Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said on Fox and Friends Tuesday morning that de facto Saudi leader Mohammed bin Salman (commonly referred to as MBS) has “got to go” in light of the country’s suspected murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who has been missing for two weeks since last being seen entering Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul.
“I’ve been their biggest defender on the floor of the United States Senate,” Graham said of the country, which has long been an ally of the United States despite its human rights abuses. “This guy is a wrecking ball. He had [Khashoggi] murdered in a consulate in Turkey, and to expect me to ignore it—I feel used and abused.”
Graham added that MBS is toxic. “He can never be a world leader on the world stage,” said the South Carolina senator. Asked how President Donald Trump should respond to the matter, Graham said it was up to Trump, but “I know what I’m going to do. I’m going to sanction the hell out of Saudi Arabia . . . This guy’s got to go. 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.”
Graham’s comments came after CNN reported on Monday evening that Saudi officials were preparing to release a potential statement acknowledging that Khashoggi had been killed in the consulate, despite initially denying involvement and claiming without evidence that Khashoggi had left the building unharmed. The statement would pin blame on intelligence officials rather than Saudi leaders, alleging that an interrogation attempt had gone wrong and Khashoggi, who is a U.S. resident and an opinion writer at the Washington Post, was killed without authorization.
On Tuesday, Graham appeared unlikely to accept such a defense. “Nothing happens in Saudi Arabia without MBS knowing it,” he said.
Trump is another story, however. On Monday he echoed Saudi talking points after a brief phone call with the Saudi king. “I don’t want to get into his mind, but it sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers,” said Trump, adding that he hoped to get to the bottom of the matter soon.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with King Salman on Tuesday morning, before meeting with the Crown Prince. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said that Pompeo thanked the king for “his commitment to supporting a thorough, transparent, and timely investigation of Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance.”
As Pompeo was in Saudi Arabia, Turkish officials who searched the consulate told the Associated Press they found evidence in the building that Khashoggi was killed there.
