Jamal Khashoggi’s fiancee will be watching President Donald Trump as he discusses his record in the Middle East at his annual State of the Union address on Tuesday. Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., has invited the murdered Washington Post journalist’s fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, as his guest to Trump’s address.
“Hatice’s courage to sit in the House chamber Tuesday night should serve as a clarion call to the president that no matter how high it goes, Saudi Arabia must be held accountable for the murder of this loving father and fiancee, respected journalist, US resident, my constituent and reformer,” Connolly said in a statement. “Congress has acted. Now too must the president.”
Why it matters: Trump enjoys a warm relationship with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman despite the fact that the United Nations has found “credible evidence” that the kingdom’s heir was involved in Khashoggi’s 2018 murder. The president has also leaned heavily on the US-Saudi security partnership as tensions escalate with Iran, which he is expected to address in his Tuesday speech.
The House passed a veto-proof bill 405-7 last year to sanction every Saudi official complicit in Khashoggi’s murder, but the White House successfully convinced Congress to drop the legislation in order to pass a compromise defense bill that Trump signed into law in December. Nonetheless, the compromise bill still required the US intelligence community to disclose the names of every Saudi official complicit in Khashoggi’s assassination — a report the Trump administration failed to deliver by last month’s deadline.
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