Congress seeks to formally condemn Saudi prince for journalist’s death
Republican leaders in Congress are securing support to formally condemn Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
On the eve of an unprecedented vote to end US support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, Senate Republican leaders are hoping to secure bipartisan support for a resolution formally condemning Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for his alleged role in murdering journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Despite being nonbinding, the resolution would serve as a strong, bipartisan rebuke against the crown prince as senators try to agree on more concrete policy measures to take against Saudi Arabia. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., himself is co-sponsoring the bill, which Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., intends to introduce as early as today.
“It’s a strong statement of our condemnation of what has happened,” Corker told Al-Monitor. “To me that’s important, even though it doesn’t affect policy.”
The senator said the resolution would also reference Riyadh’s 18-month-old blockade against its neighbor Qatar and the crown prince’s apparent abduction of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri last year.
