Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden wants the U.S. to stop backing Saudi Arabia in its war in Yemen.
“Vice President Biden believes it is past time to end U.S. support for the war in Yemen and cancel the blank check the Trump administration has given Saudi Arabia for its conduct of that war,” campaign spokesman Andrew Bates told the Washington Post. “He urges Congress to override President Trump’s veto.”
The former vice president’s opposition comes after President Trump recently vetoed a bipartisan resolution that would have required the United States to withdraw from backing the Saudis involved in a civil war in Yemen within 30 days.
The Senate is poised to vote Thursday on whether to override the veto. The legislation, introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., was passed in the House and the Senate last month. Sixteen House Republicans and seven Republicans in the Senate voted in favor of the resolution.
[Related: Pompeo rebukes senators who voted to end US involvement in Yemen civil war]
Opponents of U.S. support for the Saudis believe such efforts help prop up a Saudi regime with a dubious human rights record in its fight against Shiite-allied Houthi rebels in Yemen. The opposition increased after the death of Washington Post columnist and U.S. resident Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last year.
Although the U.S. intelligence community believes Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was involved in the murder of the Saudi dissident, Trump has not acknowledged this was the case.
Biden said last year in an interview with CBS the Saudi government should be penalized if it was determined it was involved in Khashoggi’s death.
“My doubts are that there’s very little sense of rule of law, respect for human rights, dignity,” Biden said. “The allegations that are made so far … are not inconsistent with the way the kingdom would act.”
Biden’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner.
Biden announced last month that he was entering the Democratic primary race for the 2020 election. He is one of 20 candidates including Sens. Kamala Harris of California, Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, among others.
