Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said he has not initention of working with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman after the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
“The fact that [the crown prince] didn’t know about it is impossible for me to believe,” Graham said on NBC’s “Meet the Press Sunday,” though he added that he has not been formally briefed on the CIA’s assessment that concluded the prince ordered Khashoggi’s killing.
“If he is going to be the face of Saudi Arabia going forward, I think the kingdom will have a hard time on the world stage,” Graham added. “They are an important ally, but when it comes to the crown prince, he is irrational, he is unhinged, and I think he has done a lot of damage to the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia and I have no intention of working with him ever again.”
Graham said he isn’t going to let the team of 15 Saudi agents who carried out the assassination be “the fall guys” when determining punishment from Congress.
“I am going to do whatever I can to place blame where I believe it lies: I am going to put it at the feet of the crown prince who has been a destructive force in the Mideast,” Graham said.
Graham called bin Salman a “wrecking ball” in the Middle East, and despite having hope for the Saudi leader’s potential, “that ship has sailed as far as Lindsey Graham is concerned.”
EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) says it’s “impossible for me to believe” Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman didn’t know about Khashoggi killing. #MTP@LindseyGrahamSC: “He’s irrational, he’s unhinged” pic.twitter.com/2CFHyzvct0
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) November 18, 2018
“I’ll leave it up to the president to find out how to handle Saudi Arabia from the executive branch side,” Graham said when asked about the relationship between the prince, President Trump and White House adviser and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Graham will be chairman of the the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee next year, as current chairman Chuck Grassley plans to take command of the Finance Committee.
