Trump administration launches last-ditch effort to halt anti-Saudi bills
The Donald Trump administration is briefing the Senate on Riyadh’s murder of Jamal Khashoggi in a last-ditch bid to kill a resolution intended to end US support for the Saudi coalition in Yemen.
Senior officials from the Donald Trump administration are set to brief the Senate on Wednesday in a last-minute effort to dissuade lawmakers from voting to end US support for the Saudi coalition in Yemen.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary James Mattis will brief senators amid unprecedented bipartisan backlash against Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for his alleged involvement in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the looming famine in Yemen.
The briefing is the administration’s last chance to convince lawmakers to vote against an expedited resolution ending US support for the Yemen war. The effort by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., to do so earlier this year failed 55-44. But the resolution now stands a chance of passing following Khashoggi’s murder and a grassroots push from anti-war activists.
“I think there is a growing understanding of the humanitarian disaster [in Yemen],” Sanders told reporters today. “We’re talking about tens of thousands of children already dead, more in danger of starving to death. People are understanding the despotic nature of the Saudi regime.”
