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Bipartisan senators' resolution: Saudi prince 'complicit' in Khashoggi slaying

By Allen Cone
Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., was among six U.S. senators who introduced a resolution Wednesday that finds Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman "complicit" in the death of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI
Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., was among six U.S. senators who introduced a resolution Wednesday that finds Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman "complicit" in the death of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI | License Photo

Dec. 6 (UPI) -- A bipartisan group of six U.S. senators introduced a resolution Wednesday that finds Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman "complicit" in the death of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The prince "was in control of security forces at the time of Jamal Khashoggi's murder" on Oct. 2 in Instanbul, Turkey, according to the nonbinding resolution. "Based on evidence and analysis made available to this institution, the Senate has a high level of confidence that Mohammed bin Salman was complicit in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi."

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The measure was introduced by Republicans Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Marco Rubio of Florida and Todd Young of Indiana, Democrats Dianne Feinstein of California, Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Christopher Coons of Delaware.

"There's not a smoking gun, there's a smoking saw," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told reporters Tuesday after a closed-door briefing by CIA Director Gina Haspel with leaders of three Senate committees. "You have to be willfully blind not to come to the conclusion that this was orchestrated and organized by people under the command of MBS and that he was intricately involved in the demise of Mr. Khashoggi." MBS is the nickname for Prince Mohammed.

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Haspel has heard an audio recording from inside Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul of the journalist's death obtained by Turkey.

One week ago, Republican and Democratic senators expressed outrage that they didn't receive an intelligence briefing on the journalist's slaying.

They heard from Defense Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saudi policy. Pompeo, speaking to reporters after the briefing, said "there is no direct reporting connecting the crown prince to the order of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi."

That matches the view of President Donald Trump, who said in a statement earlier that "our intelligence agencies continue to assess all information, but it could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event -- maybe he did and maybe he didn't!"

The resolution also urges the Trump administration and the international community to "hold all parties, including Mohammed bin Salman, involved in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi accountable."

"I believe it's vitally important to U.S. national security interests to make a definitive statement about the brutal murder of an American resident -- Mr. Khashoggi -- who has three American citizen children," Graham said in a statement Wednesday.

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Last week, the Senate voted 63-37 to send a resolution to the full Senate that would require Trump to end U.S. involvement in the Saudi Arabian-led war in Yemen.

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