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Intel: How Florida base shooting could threaten US-Saudi training programs

President Donald Trump’s outraged allies in Congress are calling on the United States to reevaluate its training programs for Riyadh after a Saudi national killed three and wounded two others in a shooting at a Florida naval base on Friday.

The main gate at Naval Air Station Pensacola is seen on Navy Boulevard in Pensacola, Florida, U.S. March 16, 2016. Picture taken March 16, 2016.  U.S. Navy/Patrick Nichols/Handout via REUTERS.  THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. - RC2RPD9BC4N8
The main gate at Naval Air Station Pensacola is seen on Navy Boulevard in Pensacola, Fla., US, March 16, 2016. — U.S. Navy/Patrick Nichols/Handout via REUTERS

President Donald Trump’s outraged allies in Congress are calling on the United States to reevaluate its training programs for Riyadh after a Saudi national killed three and wounded eight others in a shooting at a Florida naval base Dec. 6. Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani — a member of the Royal Saudi Air Force – was in the United States for training as part of the US Air Force Foreign Military Sales training program.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said the United States needs to “suspend the Saudi program until we find out what happened here” during a Fox News interview on Sunday.

“There’s something really bad here. We need to slow this program down and reevaluate," Graham said.

Another close Trump ally and Saudi critic, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., whose district includes the Pensacola base where the shooting occurred, told ABC on Sunday that we should “not be taking new incoming Saudi students until we’re absolutely confident in our vetting process.”

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