[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 188 (Thursday, November 29, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7229-S7230]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              S.J. RES. 54

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I hope the Saudi royal family was paying 
attention to yesterday's debate in the U.S. Senate. The bipartisan vote 
on S.J. Res. 54, of which I am a cosponsor, was significant for 
multiple reasons, but most of all for what it says about the potency of 
the outrage and disgust in this country and in the Congress about the 
conduct of Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi Crown Prince.
  That outrage has been building over time, as the number of civilian 
casualties since Saudi Arabia's intervention and ongoing aerial 
bombardment of Yemen--one of the world's poorest countries--has swollen 
into the thousands. We have all seen the photographs of the dead and 
dying and of children who are just skin and bones. It is said that 
85,000 children already have starved to death. The UN warns that 13 
million Yemeni civilians could starve to death by the end of this year, 
if the war does not end.
  Of course, the Houthis and their Iranian benefactors share much of 
the blame for the death and destruction in Yemen, but we are not 
supporting them. Rather, until recently, we were providing aerial 
refueling for Saudi warplanes, and we continue to provide the Saudis 
with intelligence and targeting assistance.
  As if the kidnapping of Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri, the blockade 
of Qatar, the imprisonment of women's rights activists, and the carnage 
in Yemen were not enough, the outrage toward the Crown Prince finally 
boiled over with the horrific, premeditated murder of Jamal Khashoggi, 
a respected journalist, Saudi citizen, and American resident, who had 
criticized the royal family.
  Mr. Khashoggi's murder and dismemberment by Saudi Government agents 
at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul triggered an international outcry, 
and it exposed the depth of depravity of the Saudi royal family. That 
an ally of the United States would so brazenly commit such a crime and 
then so blatantly attempt to cover it up, speaks volumes.
  After a string of lies by the Saudi authorities, it is only due to 
the Turkish

[[Page S7230]]

Government and independent investigative journalists that we know that 
Mr. Khashoggi was murdered, a crime punishable by death in Saudi Arabia 
and many other countries. In fact, far lesser crimes--even some 
nonviolent crimes--are punishable by death in Saudi Arabia.
  While we owe thanks to the Turkish Government for exposing the facts 
about Mr. Khashoggi's case, we cannot ignore that Turkey's President 
Erdogan is also responsible for widespread repression, including the 
arbitrary arrests and imprisonment of journalists, civil servants, and 
thousands of other critics who have been convicted and locked away 
after unfair trials. Torture is rampant in Turkey's jails, as it is in 
Saudi Arabia.
  We know that multiple Saudi officials, including the Foreign 
Minister, Minister of Interior, Ambassador to the United States, and 
others--all members of the royal family--lied to the world, including 
on international television, repeatedly changing their story about what 
happened to Mr. Khashoggi. Perhaps most revealing was how cavalierly 
and shamelessly they lied, clearly assuming that their lies would be 
accepted at face value.
  According to press reports the impulsive Crown Prince, while 
disclaiming any involvement in or knowledge of the crime, shortly after 
Mr. Khashoggi's disappearance referred to him as a ``dangerous 
jihadist,'' which was also false.
  The Saudis have yet to say what happened to Khashoggi's remains, 
except that they were turned over to a ``local collaborator.'' Who and 
where is that person? What more are they hiding?
  Reports indicate that the Saudis sent a team to Istanbul to destroy 
evidence of the crime, during the very period when the White House and 
State Department were insisting that the Saudi Government deserved more 
time to determine the facts. Instead, the Saudis were trying to cover 
their tracks.
  There is every reason to believe that the Saudi royal family is still 
lying about who was involved.
  We also know that, before murdering Mr. Khashoggi, the Saudi 
Government has had a long history of abducting, imprisoning, and 
executing dissidents and others after sham trials in violation of 
international law.
  In the United States, the media's attention, for a time, was diverted 
by President Trump's racist rants about a so-called migrant invasion, 
his made up claims of voter fraud, his partisan lies about Democrats, 
his steady stream of vitriolic and divisive rhetoric that has incited 
others to violence here and abroad, premidterm election frenzy, and now 
its aftermath.
  I mention this because, for the past few weeks, the murder of Mr. 
Khashoggi had been eclipsed by other headlines. No longer. The vote on 
S.J. Res. 54 is the Senate's initial answer to the Saudi royal family 
and to the Trump administration.
  This crime, on top of everything else, was so wicked, so repulsive, 
that no amount of money, no amount of oil, and no amount of lies can 
obscure it.
  The Trump administration lobbied hard against the resolution, warning 
that, despite the Saudi royal family's many transgressions the U.S.-
Saudi relationship is too important to risk. No one is seeking to sever 
relations with Saudi Arabia. But far more important is that the United 
States stands for the truth, for justice, for the laws of war, and that 
we don't stand by when top officials of another government, whether 
ally or adversary, conspire to murder a journalist or dissident and lie 
about it.
  As of today, the Saudi authorities continue to ignore appeals to 
reveal what happened to Khashoggi's remains. After so many lies, they 
insist that the 18 men under arrest are the only ones involved in Mr. 
Khashoggi's murder. No one who knows anything about the Saudi royal 
family, which controls the Saudi Government with an iron fist, believes 
that.
  President Trump, who has been loath to say anything that might 
implicate the Saudi royal family, at one point said there would be 
``very severe'' consequences if investigations conclude that the Saudis 
are responsible. Since then, even as it has become obvious that the 
Saudis, including the Crown Prince, are responsible, he has said 
nothing further about what those consequences would be. To the 
contrary, he said ``maybe he was, maybe he wasn't,'' but either way, it 
doesn't matter to President Trump.
  Secretary Pompeo has said that Saudi Arabia has made a ``serious 
commitment'' to hold senior leaders and officials accountable for the 
murder of Mr. Khashoggi; yet so far, no senior Saudi leader or official 
has been arrested, and the Saudis appear to have rejected the Turkish 
Government's demand that the 18 individuals who have been arrested be 
turned over to face justice where the crime occurred.
  According to press reports, the conclusion of U.S. intelligence 
experts is that such a heinous, premeditated crime by Saudi agents 
inside the Saudi consulate could not have taken place without the Crown 
Prince's knowledge and support. Does anyone seriously believe 
otherwise? Yet yesterday, the CIA Director was barred by the White 
House from meeting with Senators to answer questions about this. 
Knowing what we do about this White House, the inescapable conclusion 
is that whatever she would have told us would have contradicted the 
President's defense of the Saudi Government.
  Despite all the Saudis' phony denials, the President appears disposed 
to ignore his own intelligence experts and rely instead on the Saudi 
royal family to investigate itself. Why? To protect billions of dollars 
in contracts for U.S. weapons purchased by the Saudis for use in Yemen. 
The White House has apparently concluded that Crown Prince Mohammed bin 
Salman will ride out this storm and remain in power for years to come.
  Journalists the world over face unprecedented dangers. Those who 
criticize corrupt, repressive governments do so at great risk to their 
own safety and the safety of their families. They are regularly the 
targets of harassment, threats, and assassination for nothing more than 
doing their job. If the Saudi royal family can escape punishment for 
the premeditated murder of a Washington Post journalist, what does that 
say to journalists everywhere? What does it say about the United 
States, if we are willing to accept that?
  Yesterday, the vote to discharge S.J. Res. 54 showed that we do not 
and will not accept it. If the Saudi royal family hopes to salvage its 
tattered reputation and relations with the United States, it will need 
to take far more decisive action to end the mayhem in Yemen and bring 
to justice all those responsible for murdering Jamal Khashoggi.

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