Democrats prepare legislation forcing Trump to declassify report on Khashoggi murder
Democrats are drafting new legislation that would force the Donald Trump administration to declassify a report on Khashoggi’s murder, potentially implicating the crown prince.
Jamal Khashoggi’s family may have publicly forgiven the eight men Saudi Arabia had convicted in the journalist’s 2018 assassination, but that has done little to take Congress’ eye off Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s alleged role in the murder.
Democrats are doubling down on efforts to force the Donald Trump administration to publicly release a report on every Saudi official complicit in the murder, which could include the crown prince himself. A United Nations report found “credible evidence” that Prince Mohammed was involved in the journalist’s murder. The CIA has reportedly reached a similar assessment.
“There can be no accountability for the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi until the administration makes public what the US government knows regarding who in the Saudi government ordered, carried out and attempted to cover up the killing,” House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., told Al-Monitor in a statement. “Congress will need to take further legislative and budgetary steps to ensure declassification of a report the intelligence community provided to Congress earlier this year.”
Last year’s defense authorization bill required the Trump administration to submit an unclassified version of the list to Congress. The initial bill also included a provision that would have sanctioned every Saudi official named in the report. While that veto-proof provision passed the House 405-7, the final bill did not contain sanctions amid opposition from the White House and its Senate Republican allies.
