Twenty-two US senators on Wednesday forced a US investigation of whether human rights sanctions should be imposed over the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist last seen as he entered the Saudi consulate in Turkey on Oct. 2.

In a letter, the senators said they had triggered a provision of the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act requiring the president to determine whether a foreign person is responsible for a gross human rights violation.

“Our expectation is that in making your determination you will consider any relevant information, including with respect to the highest ranking officials in the Government of Saudi Arabia,” they said.

The Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senators Bob Corker and Bob Menendez, and their counterparts on the Appropriations subcommittee that funds the State Department, Lindsey Graham and Patrick Leahy, triggered the Magnitsky action.

But the 18 others also signed the letter to send Trump a strong bipartisan message of support for a serious US response to Khashoggi’s disappearance, Senate aides said.

The Global Magnitsky Act requires a report within 120 days of the letter with a decision on the imposition of sanctions on anyone deemed responsible for a serious rights violation such as torture, prolonged detention without trial or extrajudicial killing of someone exercising freedom of expression.

“The recent disappearance of Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi suggests that he could be a victim of a gross violation of international recognized human rights,” the letter said.

The 2012 Magnitsky Act imposed visa bans and asset freezes on Russian officials linked to the 2009 death in prison of Sergei Magnitsky, a 37-year-old Russian whistleblower. It became the Global Magnitsky Act in 2016 when it was expanded to cover rights abusers in any country.

For all the latest World News, download Indian Express App</s>Oct 11 (Reuters) - British billionaire Richard Branson said on Thursday that his Virgin Group would suspend its discussions with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund over a planned $1 billion investment in the group’s space ventures, in light of events involving missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

"What has reportedly happened in Turkey around the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, if proved true, would clearly change the ability of any of us in the West to do business with the Saudi government," Branson said in a statement. (bit.ly/2OiYtY3)

Branson also said he would suspend his directorship in two Saudi tourism projects around the Red Sea, citing the disappearance of Khashoggi, a Washington Post journalist.</s>WASHINGTON/ISTANBUL (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump increased pressure on Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to provide information on what happened to missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and said he wanted to get the bottom of what he called “a very serious situation.”

In a fresh clue, a pro-government Turkish daily on Wednesday published preliminary evidence from investigators it said identified a 15-member Saudi intelligence team involved in Khashoggi’s unexplained disappearance on Oct. 2.

Pressure appeared to be building worldwide on close U.S. ally Saudi Arabia on the whereabouts of Khashoggi, a prominent critic of Saudi policies, who was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to get documents for his planned marriage.

Khashoggi’s Turkish fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, who was waiting outside, said he never re-appeared. Turkish sources said they believe Khashoggi was killed inside the building and removed, allegations that Riyadh dismisses as baseless.

Asked in a telephone interview with Fox News Channel late on Wednesday whether Saudis were responsible for Khashoggi’s disappearance or death, Trump said: “I guess you would have to say so far it’s looking a little bit like that and we’re going to have to see.”

Earlier in the Oval Office, Trump told reporters he had raised Khashoggi’s case with Saudi Arabia “at the highest level” and more than once in recent days.

“We’re demanding everything,” Trump said when asked if he was demanding information from the Saudis. “We want to see what’s going on. It’s a very serious situation for us and for this White House ... We want to get to the bottom of it.”

He said he and his wife, Melania, expect to invite Cengiz to the White House soon.

“People saw him go in and didn’t see him come out. We’re going to take a very serious look at it. It’s a terrible thing,” Trump said. “This is a bad situation. We cannot let this happen, to reporters, to anybody. We can’t let this happen.”

Increasing pressure on Trump to respond, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators on Wednesday triggered a U.S. investigation into Khashoggi’s disappearance using a human rights law.

They asked Trump to determine whether “a foreign person is responsible for an extrajudicial killing, torture, or other gross violation of internationally recognized human rights” and report back in 120 days with a decision on the imposition of sanctions on whoever was responsible.

Asked about suggestions that Washington should consider blocking further arms sales to Saudi Arabia, Trump told Fox that would hurt U.S. jobs.

“Frankly I think that would be a very very tough pill to swallow for our country. ... Before I discuss this I’d have to find out what happened,” he said.

Former U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said he has suspended his role on the board of Saudi Arabia’s planned mega city NEOM until more is known about Khashoggi.

After Trump spoke, the White House said national security adviser John Bolton and White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, had spoken to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman about the matter on Tuesday.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo followed up with his own call to the crown prince, who had forged close ties to the administration, especially Kushner.

“In both calls they asked for more details and for the Saudi government to be transparent in the investigation process. We will continue to monitor this situation and provide updates as available,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a statement.

Khashoggi’s fiancée Cengiz was surprised when an American friend told her of Trump’s comment about inviting her to the White House, the friend told Reuters. “I think she’s in shock, now even more,” her friend said.

In an essay in the Washington Post on Tuesday, Cengiz implored the president and Melania Trump to “help shed light on Jamal’s disappearance.”

Trump made Saudi Arabia the first stop on his first foreign trip as president in May 2017, but in recent weeks has appeared to sour a bit on Riyadh, complaining directly to King Salman about the cost of American support for the Saudi military and for OPEC oil price increases.

SAUDI VISITORS

One of the 15 Saudis identified by name and photo in the report by Turkey’s Sabah newspaper is a forensic expert who has worked at the Saudi Interior Ministry for 20 years, according to a LinkedIn profile and Saudi media, and serves on the board of the Saudi Society of Forensic Medicine.

A Turkish police officer who stands guard at the Saudi Arabia's consulate is seen at the entrance, in Istanbul, Turkey October 10, 2018. REUTERS/Murad Sezer

Other names and photos of the 15, who Sabah said traveled on diplomatic passports, match officers in the Saudi Army and Air Force, as identified by previous Saudi media reports and in one case a Facebook profile.

The Saudi consulate referred Reuters to authorities in Riyadh who have not responded to questions about the 15 Saudis, who arrived in the city hours before Khashoggi disappeared on Oct. 2.

A Turkish security source had previously told Reuters that the 15 Saudis, including some officials, left Turkey later the same day.

The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that U.S. intelligence had intercepted the communications of Saudi officials discussing a plan to capture Khashoggi, citing an unidentified person familiar with the information.

On Wednesday, State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said the United States “had no advance knowledge” of such a plan.

The crown prince ordered an operation to lure Khashoggi back to Saudi Arabia from the United States and then detain him, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday, citing U.S. intelligence intercepts of Saudi officials discussing the plan.

The Post said it was not clear to officials with knowledge of the intelligence whether the Saudis discussed harming Khashoggi as part of the plan to detain him in Saudi Arabia.

Khashoggi left Saudi Arabia last year saying he feared retribution for his criticism of Riyadh over the Yemen war and its crackdown on dissent, and since then wrote columns for the Washington Post.

Britain’s foreign minister called for urgent answers and the chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Bob Corker, who has seen classified intelligence on the case, said information pointed to Khashoggi being killed.

“To me ... it feels very much some nefarious activity has occurred by them. But I don’t want to rush to judgment,” Corker said on Tuesday.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said on Wednesday the United States was ready to help in any way in the investigation.

Wednesday’s Turkish media reports were the most detailed accounts yet of what they say is the Turkish government’s investigation into Khashoggi’s disappearance.

Slideshow (11 Images)

Sabah newspaper published the names and years of birth of the 15 Saudis it said arrived at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport. Twelve of them arrived early on Tuesday, based on photos captured at passport control which it published. The 15 departed at four different times, Sabah reported.

It did not say how it obtained the pictures and data.</s>President Donald Trump on Thursday continued to push back on any talk of sanctions against Saudi Arabia over what happened to missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

“Again this took place in Turkey and to the best of our knowledge, Khashoggi is not a United States citizen, is that right? He’s a permanent resident. We don’t like it, and we don’t like it even a little bit,” he said, before adding that he didn’t want to prevent “$110 billion from being spent in this country,” referencing the U.S. arms deal with Saudi Arabia.</s>LONDON, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Thursday that the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi was extremely troubling and went against the spirit of the reforms advocated by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Khashoggi was last seen on Oct. 2 entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to get documents for his forthcoming marriage. His fiancée, waiting outside, said he never emerged and Turkish sources said they believe Khashoggi was killed in the building.

"There is no doubt at all as the American administration and the British government have made clear this is an extremely troubling situation," Blair said at a Reuters Newsmaker in London.

"I know the Saudi government have issued a very strong denial, but the thing has to be properly investigated and explained," Blair said.

"This issue has to be resolved because otherwise it runs completely contrary to that process of modernisation." (Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and Andrew MacAskill)</s>For President Donald Trump, who has made Saudi Arabia the fulcrum of his Middle East policy, the possible murder of a Saudi journalist in Turkey is a looming diplomatic crisis. For Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, it is a personal reckoning.

More than anyone in the Trump administration, Kushner has cultivated Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman — whose family may have played a role in the disappearance of the journalist, Jamal Khashoggi — elevating the prince into a key ally in the Arab world and the White House’s primary interlocutor to the kingdom.

Kushner championed Mohammed bin Salman, 33, when the prince was jockeying to be his father’s heir; had dinner with him in Washington and Riyadh, the Saudi capital; promoted a $110 billion weapons sale to his military; and once even hoped that the future king would put a Saudi stamp of approval on his Israeli-Palestinian peace plan.

While the fate of Khashoggi, a resident of Virginia and a columnist for The Washington Post, remains unclear, allegations that he was killed on the orders of the royal court have thrown Kushner’s grand bet on the crown prince into doubt.

He may be less the risk-taking reformer the Trump family eagerly embraced than a reckless, untested ruler, who critics say has been emboldened by his ties to the Trumps to take heavy-handed actions at home and abroad.

U.S. intelligence agencies have collected communications intercepts of Saudi officials discussing a plan to lure Khashoggi back to Saudi Arabia from his home in Virginia and then detain him, according to a former senior U.S. official.

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential intelligence reports, said it was inconceivable that such a plan could be carried out without the approval of the crown prince. The U.S. intercepts were first reported by The Washington Post.

While it is possible that such a plan involved assassinating Khashoggi, the official said, it is also possible that a plan to trick Khashoggi into returning to Saudi Arabia, or to temporarily incapacitate and kidnap him, went horribly awry and resulted in his death.

Saudi leaders, including the crown prince, insist Khashoggi left the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on his own, and they do not know what happened to him after that.

But if it becomes clear that the prince ordered the assassination of Khashoggi or was connected to it in some way, it will provoke an outcry on Capitol Hill; embarrass U.S. executives, dozens of whom are flocking to Riyadh for a conference next week where the crown prince is scheduled to speak; and put Kushner, who was once himself a newspaper publisher, in an extremely awkward position.

After a week of lying low, there is evidence the White House is turning up the pressure on the Saudis. On Tuesday, the White House said, Kushner and John R. Bolton, the national security adviser, spoke to Mohammed bin Salman by phone about Khashoggi’s disappearance. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also called him.

“In both calls, they asked for more details and for the Saudi government to be transparent in the investigation process,” said the White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Turkey is also raising the pressure. On Wednesday, Turkish officials and a newspaper close to the Turkish government identified 15 Saudis who they said were operatives who flew to Istanbul last week in pursuit of Khashoggi.

One of the men on the list published by the newspaper, Sabah, is an autopsy expert at Saudi Arabia’s internal security agency, according to the two Turkish officials. Another appears to be a lieutenant in the Royal Saudi Air Force. The officials, citing confidential intelligence, said all worked for the Saudi government.

Kushner declined to discuss the state of his relationship with Mohammed bin Salman. Behind the scenes, a person familiar with the matter said, he conveyed a letter from the publisher of The Post, Fred Ryan, to the crown prince, expressing concern for Khashoggi and asking for his help. Kushner has also taken other unspecified steps, this person said.

Trump administration officials said there were still too many unanswered questions to draw any conclusions about what happened in Istanbul.

Trump signaled late Wednesday that he thought it was likely that the Saudis did kill Khashoggi and said that he would be upset if it were confirmed. “I would not be happy at all,” he said in an interview with Fox News. “I guess you would have to say so far it’s looking a little like that.”

But the president expressed reluctance to punish Saudi Arabia by cutting off arms sales, as some in Washington were proposing. “I think that would be hurting us,” he said. “We have jobs, we have a lot of things happening in this country.”

Even before the murky events in Istanbul, Kushner’s partnership with Mohammed bin Salman was running into headwinds. Saudi Arabia rebuffed Trump’s pleas to settle a bitter dispute with Qatar, its neighbor. Its arms purchases have fallen far short of the $110 billion trumpeted by Kushner, in part because of resistance in Congress and in part because that price tag was always somewhat exaggerated.

The prince’s father, King Salman, ruled out public support for Kushner’s peace plan after Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel — a move that alienated the Palestinians.

Most important, from the perspective of lawmakers, Saudi Arabia has continued to kill civilians in Yemen with errant airstrikes, in a much-criticised intervention masterminded by Mohammed bin Salman in that country’s civil war.

Reports of Khashoggi’s potentially grim fate have only fed the criticism from Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill, who have long been wary of Saudi religious extremism and ties to terrorism.

For all the latest World News, download Indian Express App</s>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has investigators overseas to assist Turkey in its probe over missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday, adding that they are also working with Saudi Arabia.

“We’re being very tough. And we have investigators over there and we’re working with Turkey, and frankly we’re working with Saudi Arabia. We want to find out what happened,” Trump said in an interview the Fox News “Fox & Friends” program.</s>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Twenty-two U.S. senators on Wednesday forced a U.S. investigation of whether human rights sanctions should be imposed over the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist last seen as he entered the Saudi consulate in Turkey on Oct. 2.

In a letter, the senators said they had triggered a provision of the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act requiring the president to determine whether a foreign person is responsible for a gross human rights violation.

"Our expectation is that in making your determination you will consider any relevant information, including with respect to the highest ranking officials in the Government of Saudi Arabia," they said.

The Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senators Bob Corker and Bob Menendez, and their counterparts on the Appropriations subcommittee that funds the State Department, Lindsey Graham and Patrick Leahy, triggered the Magnitsky action.

But the 18 others also signed the letter to send Trump a strong bipartisan message of support for a serious U.S. response to Khashoggi's disappearance, Senate aides said.

The Global Magnitsky Act requires a report within 120 days of the letter with a decision on the imposition of sanctions on anyone deemed responsible for a serious rights violation such as torture, prolonged detention without trial or extrajudicial killing of someone exercising freedom of expression.

"The recent disappearance of Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi suggests that he could be a victim of a gross violation of international recognised human rights," the letter said.

The 2012 Magnitsky Act imposed visa bans and asset freezes on Russian officials linked to the 2009 death in prison of Sergei Magnitsky, a 37-year-old Russian whistleblower. It became the Global Magnitsky Act in 2016 when it was expanded to cover rights abusers in any country.

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.</s>Majority Chairman Sen.Bob Corker questions Secretary of State Pompeo as he testifies to Senate Foreign Relations Committee on diplomacy and national security.

WASHINGTON – Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker said Thursday he believes Jamal Khashoggi, a missing Saudi Arabian journalist and U.S. resident, has been killed and that the Saudi government is responsible.

“It would appear that he’s been murdered,” said Corker, R-Tenn., adding that he hopes he’s wrong about the journalist’s fate.

Corker said the facts surrounding Khashoggi’s case are still “murky” and it’s possible another country is responsible for his disappearance, which occurred more than a week ago after he entered the Saudi consulate in Turkey.

But, Corker said, “Everything that I’ve seen points to the Saudis … We have no evidence that points anywhere but to them.”

More than a week ago, Khashoggi entered Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Turkey for some routine paperwork. A critic of the Saudi regime living in self-imposed exile in the U.S., Khashoggi has not been seen since.

Turkish officials allege he was killed in the compound; Saudi officials say he left the building unharmed.

Corker and other lawmakers have been reviewing classified intelligence data collected by U.S. officials on the case. No other senator went as far as Corker in casting blame on the Saudis. But many others said they were deeply worried about Khashoggi – and deeply skeptical of the Saudi government’s denials.

“The burden of the proof is now on the Saudis to demonstrate that they were not participants in any way in harming, killing or kidnapping Jamal Khashoggi,” said Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat and member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

If the Saudis can’t prove they were not involved, Kaine said, “I think it will fundamentally change the nature of the relationship” between U.S. and Saudi Arabia, who have long shared a strong alliance.

Kaine and several other Senate Democrats said they would try to block billions of dollars in U.S. arms sales to America’s Middle Eastern ally.

President Donald Trump and his top advisers have cultivated a close relationship with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Trump has touted the Saudi Arabian government's promise to buy "lots of beautiful military equipment" from the U.S.

On Thursday, Trump said the White House has opened an investigation into Khashoggi’s disappearance but repeated that he does not favor stopping arms sales in retaliation.

 

 “We don’t like it, we don’t like it a little bit,” Trump told reporters. “What happened is a terrible thing, assuming that happened. Maybe we’ll be pleasantly surprised but somehow I doubt it.”

The Executive Branch has authority to make such a sale, but Congress can block it with a vote of disapproval in the House and the Senate.

Sen. Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, noted that he already has a hold barring the Trump administration from moving forward with an arms sale – a move he made before Khashoggi’s disappearance. The New Jersey lawmaker said the latest developments have only increased support for his blockade.

“At this point, I don’t see that moving forward,” Menendez said of the weapons sales. “We can’t let even an ally believe that they have carte blanche to do anything they want.”

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., introduced legislation Thursday to cut off all U.S. military aid and assistance to Saudi Arabia "until U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo determines that missing American resident and Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi is alive and free."

“This oppressive regime must be held accountable for its actions,” Paul wrote in an op-ed published by The Atlantic. “The United States has no business supporting it, either directly or indirectly.”

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., one of the Senate’s most vocal critics of the Saudi regime, said he was looking at other steps Congress could take – including cutting off U.S. funding for the Saudi-led bombing campaign in Yemen. He said he did not believe the Trump administration would be forceful enough in its dealings with Saudi Arabia if its leadership is found responsible for Khashoggi’s disappearance or death.

“It’s going to be left to Congress” to mete out any consequences, Murphy said.

Asked about the move to block arms sales, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert accused lawmakers of "jumping to conclusions" in the Khashoggi case.

"This is entirely a hypothetical situation at this point. We don’t know what happened," she said. "I think they're getting ahead of themselves."

Nauert said the U.S. has offered to provide law enforcement assistance to the Turkish government, though she could not say whether the U.S. had investigators on the ground.

Corker declined to weigh in on the question of arms sales, as did other Republicans. But Corker said even before the Khashoggi incident, the Saudi government’s relations with Congress “were lower than at any point since I’ve been here.”

When he learned of Khashoggi’s disappearance, Corker said he called the Saudi ambassador to the U.S., Prince Khalid bin Salman bin Abdulaz, and asked to see footage of the journalist exiting the consulate.

“He said the video equipment that they have only livestreams, it doesn’t record,” Corker recounted, calling that claim “ridiculous.”

“… I told him that’s just not possible,” Corker said, “that you would have video equipment that doesn’t record at a consulate.”</s>Majority Chairman Sen.Bob Corker questions Secretary of State Pompeo as he testifies to Senate Foreign Relations Committee on diplomacy and national security.

WASHINGTON – Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker said Thursday he believes Jamal Khashoggi, a missing Saudi Arabian journalist and U.S. resident, has been killed and that the Saudi government is responsible.

“It would appear that he’s been murdered,” said Corker, R-Tenn., adding that he hopes he’s wrong about the journalist’s fate.

Corker said the facts surrounding Khashoggi’s case are still “murky” and it’s possible another country is responsible for his disappearance, which occurred more than a week ago after he entered the Saudi consulate in Turkey.

But, Corker said, “Everything that I’ve seen points to the Saudis … We have no evidence that points anywhere but to them.”

More than a week ago, Khashoggi entered Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Turkey for some routine paperwork. A critic of the Saudi regime living in self-imposed exile in the U.S., Khashoggi has not been seen since.

Turkish officials allege he was killed in the compound; Saudi officials say he left the building unharmed.

Corker and other lawmakers have been reviewing classified intelligence data collected by U.S. officials on the case. No other senator went as far as Corker in casting blame on the Saudis. But many others said they were deeply worried about Khashoggi – and deeply skeptical of the Saudi government’s denials.

“The burden of the proof is now on the Saudis to demonstrate that they were not participants in any way in harming, killing or kidnapping Jamal Khashoggi,” said Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat and member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

If the Saudis can’t prove they were not involved, Kaine said, “I think it will fundamentally change the nature of the relationship” between U.S. and Saudi Arabia, who have long shared a strong alliance.

Kaine and several other Senate Democrats said they would try to block billions of dollars in U.S. arms sales to America’s Middle Eastern ally.

President Donald Trump and his top advisers have cultivated a close relationship with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Trump has touted the Saudi Arabian government's promise to buy "lots of beautiful military equipment" from the U.S.

On Thursday, Trump said the White House has opened an investigation into Khashoggi’s disappearance but repeated that he does not favor stopping arms sales in retaliation.

 

 “We don’t like it, we don’t like it a little bit,” Trump told reporters. “What happened is a terrible thing, assuming that happened. Maybe we’ll be pleasantly surprised but somehow I doubt it.”

The Executive Branch has authority to make such a sale, but Congress can block it with a vote of disapproval in the House and the Senate.

Sen. Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, noted that he already has a hold barring the Trump administration from moving forward with an arms sale – a move he made before Khashoggi’s disappearance. The New Jersey lawmaker said the latest developments have only increased support for his blockade.

“At this point, I don’t see that moving forward,” Menendez said of the weapons sales. “We can’t let even an ally believe that they have carte blanche to do anything they want.”

In an op-ed published by The Atlantic, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said he plans to introduce a measure to “cut all funding, training, advising, and any other coordination to and with the military of Saudi Arabia until the journalist Jamal Khashoggi is returned alive.”

“This oppressive regime must be held accountable for its actions,” he wrote. “The United States has no business supporting it, either directly or indirectly.”

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., one of the Senate’s most vocal critics of the Saudi regime, said he was looking at other steps Congress could take – including cutting off U.S. funding for the Saudi-led bombing campaign in Yemen. He said he did not believe the Trump administration would be forceful enough in its dealings with Saudi Arabia if its leadership is found responsible for Khashoggi’s disappearance or death.

“It’s going to be left to Congress” to mete out any consequences, Murphy said.

Corker declined to weigh in on the question of arms sales, as did other Republicans. But Corker said even before the Khashoggi incident, the Saudi government’s relations with Congress “were lower than at any point since I’ve been here.”

When he learned of Khashoggi’s disappearance, Corker said he called the Saudi ambassador to the U.S., Prince Khalid bin Salman bin Abdulaz, and asked to see footage of the journalist exiting the consulate.

“He said the video equipment that they have only livestreams, it doesn’t record,” Corker recounted, calling that claim “ridiculous.”

“… I told him that’s just not possible,” Corker said, “that you would have video equipment that doesn’t record at a consulate.”
The Turkish newspaper Sabah names the 15-member Saudi Arabian intelligence team allegedly involved in the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.