[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 187 (Wednesday, November 28, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S7150]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                 Yemen

  Mr. President, later this morning, the Senate will receive a 
classified all-Senators briefing from Secretaries Pompeo and Mattis on 
the conflict in Yemen, Saudi Arabia's role in that conflict, and the 
recent murder of U.S. resident and Washington Post contributor Jamal 
Khashoggi. This is an important and timely briefing, but there is a 
gaping hole.
  I am concerned and disappointed that President Trump has reportedly 
forbidden CIA Director Haspel from attending today's briefing. Without 
her presence at the briefing, there will be no one from our 
intelligence community.
  Director Haspel has heard the Turkish audiotape of the murder, and 
her Agency has also reportedly made conclusions about the role of 
various Saudi leaders. Members of this body have a right to hear from 
Director Haspel. No offense to Secretary Mattis and Secretary Pompeo, 
but it was the CIA that had jurisdiction to find out what exactly 
happened, and, according to press reports, they did. Now Congress is 
not going to get the briefing.
  What is the White House trying to hide?
  Well, we all know that President Trump seems to favor the Crown 
Prince to an extent that he will look the other way at the greatest of 
transgressions, but it is even a further step down the road of 
darkness, lack of sunlight to prevent the CIA from giving us their 
conclusions.
  Members of this body have a right to hear from Director Haspel, and 
her absence today speaks volumes--volumes--about the White House's 
intention for congressional oversight in Saudi Arabia.
  President Trump has gone to extraordinary lengths to avoid 
criticizing the Crown Prince and the Saudis for the Khashoggi murder, 
drawing grotesque moral equivalencies and controverting well-known 
facts to avoid placing blame. It seems so similar to what he has been 
doing with Putin and Russia, looking the other way for reasons that 
don't serve America's interests or security.
  It has been a shameful abdication of moral leadership from the 
President. It must give comfort to autocrats everywhere: Go ahead. 
Behave despicably, and the United States, at minimum, will look the 
other way and may even pat you on the back.
  We have strength for a lot of reasons. We have a strong military. We 
have a great economy. We have a wonderful people. But one of the 
reasons we have strength is that we have been the shining city on the 
hill. We have been the country that has guided doing the right thing in 
morality and has tried to spread that around the world.
  Donald Trump is taking a giant step backwards, and that is not just 
an abstract concept or something that would be a nice thing to do. It 
hurts economically, militarily, and security-wise when we don't 
maintain being that shining city on the hill.
  So Leader McConnell has rightly called the Saudi murder operation 
``abhorrent.'' I hope he agrees with me that Director Haspel should be 
made available to Congress on this issue. I would ask him to join with 
me in asking her to come in the same kind of closed, SCIF, 
intelligence-protecting session.
  Relatedly, possibly as early as this afternoon, we expect to have a 
vote in relation to the Lee-Sanders Yemen War Powers Resolution. Even 
though they are not here at the moment, I want to applaud the sponsors 
for their steadfast commitment to this important issue. I will support 
their resolution once again.
  The conflict in Yemen, exacerbated by Saudi Arabia's intervention and 
its reckless tactics, must be brought to an end. The Yemeni people have 
endured unending suffering. The United States should once again be the 
moral leader and lead the diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict.