Sen. Lindsey Graham said Tuesday on Fox News that he wants to see Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman forced out of his position after the mysterious disappearance of activist Jamal Khashoggi.

“This guy has got to go,” Graham, R-S.C., said on “Fox and Friends.” “Saudi Arabia, if you’re listening: There are a lot of good people you can choose, but MBS has tainted your country and tainted himself.”

He added, “The MBS figure is, to me, toxic. He can never be a world leader on the world stage.”

Khashoggi vanished two weeks ago during a visit to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. Turkish officials said they fear Khashoggi was killed and dismembered inside the consulate.

The Saudis have called the allegations “baseless," but multiple media outlets reported Monday that the Saudi government may say that rogue intelligence operatives murdered Khashoggi by mistake inside the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul earlier this month during an interrogation that went wrong.

Khashoggi had written critically about Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, son of King Salman, for The Washington Post. The prince is next in the line to the throne, and his rise to power prompted the writer’s self-imposed exile in the U.S.

Asked who should replace him, Graham said, “That’s up to them. Not my job.”

“I know this: Nothing what happens in Saudi Arabia without MBS knowing it,” Graham said.

He added, “I'm not going back to Saudi Arabia as long as this guy is in charge.”

Graham's remarks come as U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo landed Tuesday in Saudi Arabia to meet with King Salman over the disappearance of Khashoggi.

SAUDI ARABIA CONSIDERS SAYING KHASHOGGI WAS KILLED BY MISTAKE, REPORTS SAY

Pompeo is set to visit the place where Khashoggi was last seen.

“I feel used and abused. I was on the floor every time defending Saudi Arabia because they’re a good ally,” Graham said.

President Donald Trump, after speaking with King Salman, had dispatched Pompeo on Monday to speak to the monarch of the world's top oil exporter about Khashoggi's disappearance.

“I am immediately sending our Secretary of State to meet with King!” Trump tweeted Monday.

Khashoggi has criticized Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen, its recent diplomatic spat with Canada and its arrest of women's rights activists after the lifting of a driving ban for women—policies seen as initiatives of the crown prince.

Fox News’ Amy Lieu and The Associated Press contributed to this report.</s>US Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican close to President Donald Trump, on Tuesday accused Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of ordering the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and called him a “wrecking ball” who is jeopardising relations with the United States.

Many members of the US Congress, which has long had a testy relationship with Saudi Arabia, have issued strong criticism of the kingdom since Khashoggi’s disappearance at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.

Graham put the blame directly on the crown prince, who is known by his initials, MbS.

“Nothing happens in Saudi Arabia without MbS knowing it,” he said in an interview with Fox News.

“I’ve been their biggest defender on the floor of the United States Senate,” Graham said. “This guy is a wrecking ball. He had this guy murdered in a consulate in Turkey and to expect me to ignore it. I feel used and abused,” Graham said.

“The MbS figure is to me toxic. He can never be a world leader on the world stage.”

Saudi Arabia denies that it had any role in Khashoggi’s disappearance. But last week, 22 senators triggered a US investigation of whether human rights sanctions should be imposed over the disappearance of Khashoggi.

Graham said he did not know what Trump was going to do about the incident, which involves the United States’ close but complicated relationship with Saudi Arabia.

“I know what I’m going to do. I’m going to sanction the hell out of Saudi Arabia,” Graham said. “I feel personally offended. They have nothing but contempt for us. Why would you put a guy like me and the president and in this box after all the president has done? This guy’s gotta go.”

Trump has taken a less aggressive stance toward the Saudis, suggesting on Monday after speaking with Saudi King Salman that perhaps “rogue killers” were behind the disappearance of Khashoggi, a sharp critic of the crown prince.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met the Saudi king and crown prince on Tuesday to discuss the disappearance of Khashoggi.</s>Graham, who had previously been a staunch defender of Saudi Arabia, did not provide any evidence to support his claim that the crown prince is responsible for Khashoggi's disappearance.

Graham urged President Donald Trump to "sanction the hell out of Saudi Arabia" and said bin Salman, who is often referred to by his initials, MBS, has "gotta go."

"We deal with bad people all the time, but this is in our face. I feel personally offended. They have nothing but contempt," he said.

Graham then turned to the camera and said, "Saudi Arabia, if you're listening, there are a lot of good people you could choose, but MBS has tainted your country and tainted himself."

Graham's comments come just a day after NBC News, citing three people with knowledge of the situation, reported that Saudi Arabia's government is discussing a plan to admit that Khashoggi was killed after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.

According to two of the individuals, the Saudis are putting together an explanation that would absolve the crown prince of responsibility by giving him plausible deniability to say he didn't order the killing and didn't know about it.

A spokeswoman for the Saudi Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the discussions.

Khashoggi, a Saudi citizen and critic of the government who wrote for The Washington Post, vanished on Oct. 2 after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, triggering a major diplomatic crisis for the kingdom.

Turkish authorities have told U.S. officials that they have recordings from inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul that provide evidence that the missing journalist was killed inside. NBC News has not heard or seen any purported recordings.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Saudi King Salman and bin Salman in Riyadh on Tuesday to discuss the disappearance and alleged murder of Khashoggi.</s>He came to power promising to revolutionise the world’s most conservative country. But the murder of a journalist could be the Crown Prince’s downfall.

He came to power promising to revolutionise the world’s most conservative country. But the murder of a journalist could be the Crown Prince’s downfall.

JUST six months ago, the United States was rolling out the red carpet for Saudi Arabia's ruling autocrat.

Young, ambitious and viewed as relatively progressive for the ultraconservative kingdom, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman went through a phase of rock-star status in the western world.

But of all the things threatening the facade, it was the sudden disappearance of a prominent Saudi journalist in Turkey that may have brought him down.

THE RISE AND FALL OF MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN

When Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman came to power in 2015, his rise was seen as a sign of the shifting sands in Saudi Arabia.

The 33-year-old leader pushed ambitious plans to transform the country into a modern state through a series of reforms that would secure its economic future. The ultraconservative kingdom lifted its driving ban on women in June this year.

Bin Salman boasted a "Vision 2030" plan to ease social controls in the kingdom and embrace a more open and tolerant interpretation of Islam.

He was the young reformer set on bringing the Middle Eastern kingdom into the 21st century and opening it up to the world, with western diplomats hailing him as a breath of fresh air in the regressive nation.



 Of course, this was largely a PR exercise designed to make the country more palatable to the West. But it worked.

Despite his country's atrocious human rights record, bin Salman was received in the US like a celebrity in April.

TIME Magazine featured him on its cover. He had televised interviews with western media outlets, with 60 Minutes hailing him as a "revolutionary" who was "emancipating women". He dined with Morgan Freeman, director James Cameron and The Rock, who posted on Instagram that it was a "pleasure" meeting him and a "fascinating experience".

Various incidents have put stains on that image - he arrested at least seven high-profile women's activists in May, detained Lebanon leader Saad Hariri and allegedly forced him to resign, and threatened to arrest anyone who dared question his reforms.

 Late last year, he was behind a Game of Thrones-style purge billed as an "anti-corruption" campaign, detaining dozens of members of Saudi Arabia's political and business elite accused of corruption.

Under his watch, Saudi Arabia intervened in the civil war in neighbouring Yemen, entered a massive diplomatic spat with Canada, and isolated Qatar by closing the smaller country's only land border.

But it was the mysterious disappearance of one of his most prominent critics, Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, that saw bin Salman crash and burn in the eyes of the West.

HOW KHASHOGGI TURNED THE TIDE ON SAUDI PRINCE

Jamal Khashoggi is a prominent journalist whose Post column often criticised the Saudi government.

He hasn't been seen since October 2, when he went into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to sort out marriage paperwork.

A Turkish newspaper is now reporting the contents of the writer's Apple Watch recorded his final brutal moments.

According to The Sabah newspaper, authorities recovered the audio from Khashoggi's iPhone and his iCloud account, which were synced up to his watch.

 It's believed he gave his phones to his fiancee, Hatice Cengiz before entering the consulate to arrange paperwork for his marriage.

The tape, if it's authentic, supposedly reveals Khashoggi had his fingers cut off and his panicked screams as he was dying could reportedly be heard before he was "injected with an unknown drug" and then nothing more is heard from him.

The Saudi government has denied the claims - with the controversy dealing a huge blow to the kingdom's image and efforts by the youthful Crown Prince to showcase a reform drive.

But the disappearance has sparked global outrage and demands for a full investigation of his death.

 According to US media reports, the kingdom is considering an admission that Khashoggi died after an interrogation that went wrong during an intended abduction.

Citing two unnamed sources, CNN has reported Saudi Arabia is preparing a report that would admit Khashoggi was killed as the result of an interrogation that went wrong.

One source cautioned the report was still being prepared and could change, CNN said on Monday.

The other source said the report would likely conclude that the operation was carried out without clearance and that those involved will be held responsible, the cable news outlet said.

In the meantime, international pressure continues to mount against bin Salman and the Saudis, with France, Germany, the UK and the US pushing for the truth.

Worse still, numerous companies and individuals are backing away from doing business with the kingdom.

Representatives from more than a dozen western news outlets, including The New York Times, The Financial Times, Bloomberg and The Economist, have removed their media sponsorship and withdrawn from an upcoming international conference to be hosted by the Crown Prince, according to Axios.

At the same time, top tech executives are pulling away from the Neom project advisory board, an ambitious $500 billion project spruiked by the kingdom as a sustainable futuristic megacity.

Apple's chief design officer Jony Ive, former US secretary of energy Ernest Moriz, Footpath Labs' Dan Doctoroff, and former vice president of the European Commission Neelie Kroes have all suspended their involvement in the project.

And Hollywood agency Endeavour Content is pulling out of a $400 million investment deal in the country, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Even US politicians are saying time is up for bin Salman.

Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the conservative kingdom's most vocal defenders in Congress and a close ally of President Donald Trump, said the Crown Prince has "got to go".

Senator Graham vowed never to return to the country as long as the young leader remains in power.

"This guy is a wrecking ball. He had this guy murdered in a consulate in Turkey, and to expect me to ignore it - I feel used and abused," he said in a Fox & Friends interview.

He said bin Salman is "toxic" and "can never be a world leader on the world stage".

In a 60 Minutes interview earlier this week, Mr Trump warned that the Saudi kingdom would face "severe punishment" if it was proved responsible for the journalist's death.

"There's something really terrible and disgusting about that, if that was the case, so we're going to have to see," Mr Trump said. "We're going to get to the bottom of it and there will be severe punishment."

Whether the Crown Prince is even concerned by the global fury is up for debate.

His main concern, argues Washington Examiner journalist Tom Togan, is how he's viewed within his own country - particularly by those who want him gone.

"While Saudi Arabia's Western allies are lining up to criticise his government, none of those nations pose an existential threat to his rule. If anything, Mohammed bin Salman is confident that these nations will want to retain Saudi stability for reasons of oil market stability and their own export interests," Togan wrote.

"In contrast, the real threat to his rule is those in Saudi Arabia who, either in opposition to his liberalising reforms of society, or his ending of the oil-patronage networks, or his consolidation of total power, want to see bin Salman gone."

That said, Mr Trump's threat of "severe punishment" did spark a reaction from the kingdom.

Earlier this week, prominent Saudi journalist Turki Aldakhil warned the US it would "stab its own economy to death" if it tried to retaliate with sanctions.

In a furious opinion piece, Aldakhil warned such actions would cause oil prices to rise as high as $200 a barrel, drive the Middle East towards Iran and lead Riyadh to permit a Russian military base in the city of Tabuk.

"The information circulating within decision-making circles within the kingdom have gone beyond the rosy language used in the statement," Aldakhil wrote for the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya news channel.

"There are simple procedures, that are part of over 30 others, that Riyadh will implement directly, without flinching an eye if sanctions are imposed," he said.

"If US sanctions are imposed on Saudi Arabia, we will be facing an economic disaster that would rock the entire world."

He added: "If the price of oil reaching $80 angered President Trump, no one should rule out the price jumping to $100, or $200, or even double that figure."</s>Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has long been among the most vehement advocates of foreign intervention in the United States Senate, supporting US interventions for “regime changes” across the world.

Now Saudi Arabia has joined the list of countries where Graham has demanded regime change. Interviewed Tuesday morning at the Fox News show Fox & Friends, Graham declared that Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman “has got to go.”

While proclaiming in the interview that he has been Saudi Arabia’s “biggest defender on the floor of the United States Senate,” Graham says that bin Salman is “toxic” and a “wrecking ball” and had Jamal Khashoggi “murdered in a consulate in Turkey” earlier this month.

So long as bin Salman is in charge in Saudi Arabia, Graham promises to refuse or “do business with” or visit Saudi Arabia. Graham also says in the interview that he will be pushing to “sanction the hell out of Saudi Arabia.”

Ron Paul Institute Chairman Ron Paul has a very different take on Saudi Arabia and its leader bin Salman.

Interviewed Monday at Fox Business, Paul applied his consistent noninterventionist approach, declaring that the “proper policy” for the US government is neither to punish nor aid Saudi Arabia. Sanctions or other punishment imposed by the US are not justified, says Paul.

Paul also declares in the interview, as he has often declared before, his opposition to the US policies of being “a close ally with Saudi Arabia” and providing military aid to Saudi Arabia for its ongoing war on Yemen — policies Graham has supported.



 This article was published by RonPaul Institute</s>
• Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham on Tuesday said Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is "toxic" and can "never be a world leader on the world stage."
• Graham said the crown prince had Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi "murdered."
• The Republican senator said he plans to "sanction the hell out of Saudi Arabia."

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham on Tuesday said Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is "toxic" and can "never be a world leader on the world stage."

Graham said he believed the crown prince had Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi "murdered" in Turkey and said he felt "personally offended" by what's happened given how often he's defend the Saudi kingdom's interests on the Senate floor.

"This guy is a wrecking ball, he had this guy murdered in a consulate in Turkey, and to expect me to ignore it, I feel used and abused," Graham said of the crown prince in an appearance on "Fox & Friends."

Graham also said the US shouldn't do business with Saudi Arabian again "until we get this behind us." The Republican senator said he would not go back to Saudi Arabia as long as the crown prince is in charge.

When asked what President Donald Trump should do about the situation, Graham said "it's up to him," adding that he plans to "sanction the hell out of Saudi Arabia."

Since being named crown prince and heir to the throne in 2017, Mohammed bin Salman has made a number of controversial moves to consolidate power, including arresting other princes and prominent businessmen, part of the reason Khashoggi left Saudi Arabia for the US last June.

Khashoggi disappeared on October 2 after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, and Turkish officials have said he was interrogated and killed there. Saudi Arabia has so far denied harming Khashoggi in any way and claim he safely departed the consulate, but has not provided evidence to confirm this.

On Tuesday, a high-level Turkish official said police found "certain evidence" Khashoggi was killed in the consulate.

Khashoggi's mysterious disappearance has placed the historic relationship between the US and Saudi Arabian governments in a precarious position. A bipartisan group of senators have called for the US to cease arms sales to Saudi Arabia and many have also signaled support for economic sanctions in relation to the Khashoggi case.</s>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Saudi Arabia’s crown prince intends to expand an investigation into missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi and that the prince did not know what happened in the Turkish consulate where Khashoggi apparently disappeared.

“Just spoke with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia who totally denied any knowledge of what took place in their Turkish Consulate,” Trump said on Twitter, referring to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. “He was with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during the call, and told me that he has already started, and will rapidly expand, a full and complete investigation into this matter. Answers will be forthcoming shortly.”</s>ISTANBUL — One of the suspects identified by Turkey in the disappearance of the Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi was a frequent companion of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — seen disembarking from airplanes with him in Paris and Madrid and photographed standing guard during his visits this year to Houston, Boston and the United Nations.

Three others are linked by witnesses and other records to the Saudi crown prince’s security detail.

A fifth is a forensic doctor who holds senior positions in the Saudi Interior Ministry and medical establishment, a figure of such stature that he could be directed only by a high-ranking Saudi authority.

If, as the Turkish authorities say, these men were present at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul where Khashoggi disappeared on Oct. 2, they might provide a direct link between what happened and Mohammed bin Salman. That would undercut any suggestion that Khashoggi died in a rogue operation unsanctioned by the crown prince. Their connection to him could also make it more difficult for the White House and Congress to accept such an explanation.

How much blame for Khashoggi’s disappearance or death settles on the 33-year-old crown prince has become a decisive factor in his standing in the eyes of the West and within the royal family.

The prince has presented himself as a reformer intent on opening up the kingdom’s economy and culture, and has used that image to try to influence White House policy in the region and to woo Western investors to help diversify the Saudi economy.

But the international revulsion at the reported assassination and mutilation of a single newspaper columnist — Khashoggi, who wrote for The Washington Post — has already sullied that image far more than previous missteps by Mohammed bin Salman , from miring his country in a catastrophic war in Yemen to kidnapping the prime minister of Lebanon.

The crown prince and his father, King Salman, have denied any knowledge of Khashoggi’s whereabouts, repeatedly asserting that he left the consulate freely. Saudi officials did not respond to requests for comment for this article.

But in the last few days, as major U.S. businesses and media companies have withdrawn from a marquee investment conference in Riyadh, the United States, Turkey and Saudi Arabia appear to have been searching for a face-saving way out.

The royal court was expected to acknowledge for the first time that Khashoggi was killed in the consulate, and to blame a rogue operation conducted without the direct knowledge of the crown prince, according to a person familiar with the Saudi plans. The Saudis, this person said, will hold accountable an intelligence official who received approval from the crown prince to capture and interrogate Khashoggi but accidentally killed him instead.

On Monday, after speaking with King Salman, President Donald Trump floated the possibility that Khashoggi was the victim of “rogue killers.”

But such explanations would run up against a host of hard-to-explain obstacles.

The suspects’ positions in the Saudi government and the links of several to the crown prince could make it more difficult to absolve him of responsibility. The presence of a forensic doctor who specializes in autopsies suggests the operation may have had a lethal intent from the start.

Turkish officials have said they possess evidence that a team of 15 Saudi agents flew into Istanbul on Oct. 2, assassinated Khashoggi, dismembered his body with a bone saw they had brought for the purpose, and flew out the same day. They said Khashoggi was killed within two hours of his arrival at the consulate, a schedule that would hardly allow time for an interrogation to go awry.

Turkish officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential intelligence, have said that all 15 suspects are Saudi security officers, intelligence agents or government employees.

Records show that two private jets chartered by a Saudi company with close ties to the Saudi crown prince and interior ministry arrived and left Istanbul on the day of Khashoggi’s disappearance. Turkish officials have said some of the 15 suspects arrived and left on those jets.

The New York Times has confirmed independently that at least 9 of the 15 worked for the Saudi security services, military or other government ministries.

The New York Times has gathered more information about the suspects using facial recognition software, publicly available records, social media profiles, a database of Saudi cellphone numbers, Saudi news reports, leaked Saudi government documents and in some cases the accounts of witnesses in Saudi Arabia and countries the crown prince has visited.

One suspect, Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, was a diplomat assigned to the Saudi embassy in London in 2007, according to a British diplomatic roster. He has also traveled extensively with the Mohammed bin Salman, perhaps as a bodyguard.

Mutreb has been photographed emerging from airplanes with on recent trips to Madrid and Paris. He was also photographed in Houston, Boston and the United Nations during the prince’s visits there, often glowering as he surveyed a crowd.

A French professional who has worked with the Saudi royal family identified a second suspect, Abdulaziz Mohammed al-Hawsawi, as a member of the security team that travels with the prince.

A Saudi news outlet reported that someone with the same name as a third suspect, Thaar Ghaleb al-Harbi, was promoted last year to the rank of lieutenant in the Saudi royal guard for bravery in the defense of Mohammed bin Salman’s palace in Jeddah.

A fourth suspect traveled with a passport bearing the name of another member of the royal guard, Muhammed Saad Alzahrani. A search of the name in Menom3ay, an app popular in Saudi Arabia that allows users to see the names other users have associated with certain phone numbers, identified him as a member of the royal guard. A guard wearing a name tag with that name appears in a video from 2017 standing next to Mohammed bin Salman.

Members of the royal guard or aides who traveled with the crown prince might have been recruited for an expedition to capture or interrogate Khashoggi, perhaps led by a senior intelligence official.

But the presence among the suspects of an autopsy expert, Dr. Salah al-Tubaigy, suggests that killing might have been part of the original plan.

Tubaigy, who maintained a presence on several social media platforms, identified himself on his Twitter account as the head of the Saudi Scientific Council of Forensics and held lofty positions in the kingdom’s premier medical school as well as in its Interior Ministry. He had studied at the University of Glasgow and in 2015 he spent three months in Australia as a visiting forensic pathologist at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine. His published writings include works on dissection and mobile autopsies.

Although there is no public record of a relationship between him and the royal court, such a senior figure in the Saudi medical establishment was unlikely to join a rogue expedition organized by an underling.

Tubaigy, whose name first appeared among reports of the suspects several days ago, has not publicly addressed the allegations. None of the suspects could be reached for comment.</s>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican close to President Donald Trump, on Tuesday accused Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of ordering the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and called him a “wrecking ball” who is jeopardizing relations with the United States.

Many members of the U.S. Congress, which has long had a testy relationship with Saudi Arabia, have issued strong criticism of the kingdom since Khashoggi’s disappearance at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.

Graham put the blame directly on the crown prince, who is known by his initials, MbS.

“Nothing happens in Saudi Arabia without MbS knowing it,” he said in an interview with Fox News.

“I’ve been their biggest defender on the floor of the United States Senate,” Graham said. “This guy is a wrecking ball. He had this guy murdered in a consulate in Turkey and to expect me to ignore it. I feel used and abused,” Graham said.

“The MbS figure is to me toxic. He can never be a world leader on the world stage.”

Saudi Arabia denies that it had any role in Khashoggi’s disappearance. But last week, 22 senators triggered a U.S. investigation of whether human rights sanctions should be imposed over the disappearance of Khashoggi.

Graham said he did not know what Trump was going to do about the incident, which involves the United States’ close but complicated relationship with Saudi Arabia.

“I know what I’m going to do. I’m going to sanction the hell out of Saudi Arabia,” Graham said. “I feel personally offended. They have nothing but contempt for us. Why would you put a guy like me and the president and in this box after all the president has done? This guy’s gotta go.”

Trump has taken a less aggressive stance toward the Saudis, suggesting on Monday after speaking with Saudi King Salman that perhaps “rogue killers” were behind the disappearance of Khashoggi, a sharp critic of the crown prince.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met the Saudi king and crown prince on Tuesday to discuss the disappearance of Khashoggi.</s>Sen. Lindsey Graham on Tuesday blasted Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the putative leader of Saudi Arabia, over the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, calling him "a wrecking ball" and alleging without citing evidence that he had the missing journalist "murdered."

"This guy is a wrecking ball, he had this guy murdered in a consulate in Turkey, and to expect me to ignore it, I feel used and abused," the South Carolina Republican said on "Fox and Friends."

Graham, who had previously been a staunch defender of Saudi Arabia, did not provide any evidence to support his claim that the crown prince is responsible for Khashoggi's disappearance.

Graham urged President Donald Trump to “sanction the hell out of Saudi Arabia" and said bin Salman, who is often referred to by his initials, MBS, has "gotta go."

"We deal with bad people all the time, but this is in our face. I feel personally offended. They have nothing but contempt,” he said.

Graham then turned to the camera and said, "Saudi Arabia, if you’re listening, there are a lot of good people you could choose, but MBS has tainted your country and tainted himself."

Graham’s comments come just a day after NBC News, citing three people with knowledge of the situation, reported that Saudi Arabia’s government is discussing a plan to admit that Khashoggi was killed after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.

According to two of the individuals, the Saudis are putting together an explanation that would absolve the crown prince of responsibility by giving him plausible deniability to say he didn’t order the killing and didn’t know about it.

A spokeswoman for the Saudi Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the discussions.

Khashoggi, a Saudi citizen and critic of the government who wrote for The Washington Post, vanished on Oct. 2 after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, triggering a major diplomatic crisis for the kingdom.

Turkish authorities have told U.S. officials that they have recordings from inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul that provide evidence that the missing journalist was killed inside. NBC News has not heard or seen any purported recordings.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Saudi King Salman and bin Salman in Riyadh on Tuesday to discuss the disappearance and alleged murder of Khashoggi.
Senior U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham states that Mohammed bin Salman has murdered Khashoggi and that the country's crown prince has "got to go".