Senators vow to act if Khashoggi killed by Saudis
338 views · Published 22 October 2018 · 1:56 · Indexed 26 September 2026
Channel: AP Archive · 2018 · News & Politics
(17 Oct 2018) US Senators say Congress should take action against Saudi Arabia if the country's leaders are responsible for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Yet senators differ on whether they think any legislative actions should be done with or without the support of the president or what those actions would entail. "If the president is not willing to fulfill his responsibility, Congress will act," said Sen. Mark Warner who is the ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee and represents Virginia in the Senate where Khashoggi lived. "One of the things that will be good, it will be strongly bipartisan," Warner added. Republicans and Democrats have condemned the murder of Khashoggi. More than 20 Republican and Democratic senators instructed Trump last week to order an investigation into Khashoggi's disappearance under legislation that authorizes sanctions for perpetrators of extrajudicial killings, torture or other gross human rights violations. The writer had been living in self-exile in Virginia for the past year. The lawmakers' letter was a preliminary step under the Global Magnitsky Act toward taking punitive action. US Senators also believe that the Saudi government is likely to blame for his death. The Saudi journalist disappeared after entering the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul two weeks ago. Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy added that it was "irrelevant" whether Saudi King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman knew of the killing saying "they're captains of the ship" and that president and Congress need to jointly "condemn the conduct in the strongest possible terms." Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/5a573d07a4055f7cb15549ac19021b81
