Share this page!

Andrew Desiderio Profile picture
Twitter logo
Oct 10 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
NEWS—Senate Foreign Relations Chair Menendez is about to call for an immediate freeze of U.S. cooperation w/ Saudi Arabia.

Menendez has veto power over foreign weapons sales.

“I will not green light any cooperation w/Riyadh until the Kingdom reassesses its position” on Ukraine.
story TK w/ @connorobrienNH
Menendez’s full statement, just released >>
Congress has long toyed w/ the idea of cutting ties w/ Saudi Arabia but never followed through because of the belief that partnering with the kingdom is a net security benefit (especially with respect to Iran), even if it means overlooking human-rights concerns.

Remarkable shift
NEW: Dems rage at Saudis over oil cut, vow to block weapons sales

Even before Menendez, Dem leaders were calling for action. Schumer has said he’ll consider a vote on the NOPEC bill. Others drew up plans to pull US troops out of SA/UAE

w/ @connorobrienNH
politico.com/news/2022/10/1…

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Andrew Desiderio

Andrew Desiderio Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @AndrewDesiderio

Andrew Desiderio Profile picture
Aug 27
BREAKING — The U.S. intelligence community will assess potential damages to national security stemming from Trump’s handling of documents seized at Mar-a-Lago, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told top lawmakers Friday

Scoop w/ @nicholaswu12
politico.com/news/2022/08/2…
Haines to Maloney/Schiff: ODNI will lead an “assessment of the potential risk to national security that would result from the disclosure of the relevant documents.” She says this will not “unduly interfere with DOJ’s ongoing criminal investigation.”
HAINES: “The DOJ and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence are working together to facilitate a classification review of relevant materials, including those recovered during the search.”

This is the admin’s first known engagement w/ Congress on the issue.
Read 5 tweets
Andrew Desiderio Profile picture
Aug 26
Here’s DOJ explaining, in the memorandum of law just unsealed, why releasing the affidavit without redactions would harm the investigation and lead to the harassment/intimidation of witnesses.
“For example...”
“Meanwhile, FBI agents who have been publicly identified in connection with this investigation have received repeated threats of violence from members of the public...”
Read 4 tweets
Andrew Desiderio Profile picture
Aug 12
House Intel Republicans start off their press conference by condemning violence against law enforcement & expressing support for FBI rank and file Image
“There were many other options available to them,” Rep. Turner says. He also said it’s “disturbing” that there was apparently an informant around Trump.
Rep. Stefanik, House GOP conference chair and HPSCI member, condemns “weaponization” of DOJ against Biden’s “political opponents”

Stefanik says agency leadership “continues to protect Hunter Biden”
Read 4 tweets
Andrew Desiderio Profile picture
Aug 9
1/ Just got off the phone with Rep. Turner, the top R on House Intel, who made a more nuanced case for seeking info on the Mar-a-Lago search — rather than a knee-jerk defense of Trump w/o knowing the basis for the raid, as we’ve seen from other GOPers.

politico.com/minutes/congre…
2/ Turner argues the only possible justification for this kind of search of an ex-POTUS’ home is if there’s a clear national security threat related to Trump’s possession of WH docs. As of now, he doesn’t know of one.

“This is not like he has 10 library books he hasn’t returned”
3/ “Trump has more classified information in his head than he could possibly have in his desk,” Turner told me. “What is it that rises to the level that they would raid his home to seek? ... Unless there is a true national security threat, this is clearly an overreach.”
Read 4 tweets
Andrew Desiderio Profile picture
Aug 7
The saga over Pelosi’s Taiwan visit may be over, but the Biden administration is still trying to cool temperatures on the Hill over Taiwan.

How a bipartisan Senate bill to overhaul U.S.-Taiwan relations was punted to September amid pushback from the WH >>
politico.com/news/2022/08/0…
It authorizes $4.5B in security assistance & designates Taiwan as a major non-NATO ally, deepening U.S. ties to the island. It was supposed to be voted out of committee last week.

But the Biden admin is once again trying to cage the hawks on the Hill & is now suggesting changes
Tensions rising in the Senate, too.

After Sen. Murphy suggested the bill was punted due to the WH’s pushback, Sen. Menendez told me: “Chris Murphy’s wrong, I saw his public comments.”

He says WH involvement is routine & bill was delayed bc he had to be on floor for NATO debate.
Read 4 tweets
Andrew Desiderio Profile picture
Jun 22
Senate Foreign Relations Committee just gaveled in for its first hearing on Finland’s & Sweden’s accession to NATO. Witnesses include Karen Donfried, Europe chief at State, and Celeste Wallander, a top DoD official.

Senate is expected to take up ratification after recess
SFRC Chair Menendez says Turkey’s “eleventh-hour” roadblocks “only serve Putin’s interests.” (Turkey wants Finland/Sweden to take a harder line against the PKK.)
Sen. Risch says he’ll leave the negotiations to the Swedes/Finns, but says Turkey’s objections must be overcome. He believes Sweden/Finland are negotiating in good-faith.
Read 5 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Send Email!

Email the whole thread instead of just a link!

Separate emails with commas

:(