After President Trump spurned the Magnitsky Act deadline for reporting
to Congress on the Khashoggi murder, Congressional leadership is
expecting to advance its own legislation punishing the Saudi government for its role in the murder.
President Trump has already effectively ruled out punishing the Saudis
for the murder, saying he didn’t want to risk major arms deals with the
kingdom. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) says that the Senate does not need
Trump’s permission, and believes sanctions are “the most appropriate
step.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says that President Trump has been clear
about what is going to happen, and that this does not mean they are “covering up for a murder.” He said Trump might hold people responsible if they get additional information.
Yet all indications are that President Trump had no intention of
punishing the Saudi Crown Prince, because of the importance of the arms
deal. Indeed there is already broad consensus that the prince was behind
this murder, and the Trump Administration only feigns uncertainty as a
cover for its lack of action.
Do we help the Saudis oppress Yemen so that the Saudis will help us attack Iran, or is the US/Saudi/UAE just a coalition of self-determination-haters? Or do the warmongering officials care little about the policy as long as US munitions get used to blow people up somewhere, to keep the arms factories humming here?
“He(Pompeo)said Trump might hold people responsible if he gets additional information”
In other words, he will wait until it dies down or someone other than MBS is implicated.