Senators are demanding to hear

Tensions over Trump and Khashoggi erupt in the Senate

Senators are demanding to hear from CIA Director Gina Haspel, who was conspicuously absent from Wednesday’s briefing.

By NAHAL TOOSI and CAITLIN OPRYSKO

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Wednesday vigorously backed President Donald Trump’s defense of Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, but failed to appease senators who are demanding to hear directly from the CIA director about who directed the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is under intense global scrutiny amid suspicion that he ordered Khashoggi's murder. But Trump, citing the importance of Saudi cooperation against Iran and multi-billion-dollar arms deals, has dismissed the allegations against bin Salman, including reported assessments from the CIA.

The tension risks spilling over later this week at the G-20 in Argentina, where the White House said Trump and the crown prince may informally meet, a diplomatically sensitive situation given the outrage over Khashoggi.

And that same outrage is already engulfing much of Congress, with lawmakers from both parties demanding accountability — and an in-person briefing from CIA Director Gina Haspel.

While Pompeo and Mattis both met with senators in a classified session on Wednesday — and later told reporters that there is no "direct reporting" linking the crown prince to Khashoggi’s death — Haspel was conspicuously absent, despite having traveled to the region to investigate Khashoggi’s killing. She is also one of the few top Trump aides who has listened to an audio recording of the murder.

Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told reporters that Pompeo and Mattis said the White House had directed Haspel to not show up. But the CIA categorically dismissed that explanation.

“While Director Haspel did not attend today’s Yemen policy briefing, the agency has already briefed the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and Congressional leadership on the totality of the compartmented, classified intelligence and will continue to provide updates on this important matter to policymakers and Congress,” CIA spokesman Timothy Barrett said. “The notion that anyone told Director Haspel not to attend today's briefing is false.”

The White House deferred to the CIA for comment on the matter.

Regardless, senators expressed intense frustration over her absence.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a close ally of Trump, slammed the White House over Haspel’s absence, calling the briefing "inadequate" and threatening to withhold his vote on any must-pass legislation until such a briefing is held.

"I am not going to be denied the ability to be briefed by the CIA that we have oversight of about whether or not their assessment supports my belief that this could not have happened without MBS knowing," the South Carolina Republican said.

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), who has called for the Trump administration to take a harsher line on Saudi Arabia in response to the Khashoggi killing, told reporters following the briefing that "I wish [Haspel] would have been there,” adding that “a lot of us were frustrated that she wasn't."

Pompeo was also asked Wednesday why Haspel did not attend, given that Pompeo attended similar briefings in his previous role as CIA director. “I was asked to be here, and here I am,” Pompeo replied.

Instead, Pompeo and Mattis both effectively took the side of the president – and the crown prince -- by telling reporters that there’s no definitive proof that the Saudi royal, commonly known as MBS, was linked to the death of Khashoggi.

“I do believe I’ve read every piece of intelligence — unless it’s come in the last few hours, I think I've read it all,” Pompeo said. “There is no direct reporting connecting the crown prince to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. And that’s all I can say in an unclassified setting.”

Mattis told journalists that the administration still has “no smoking gun that the crown prince was involved — not the intelligence community or anyone else.”

Mattis and Pompeo’s comments appeared at odds with media reports that the CIA had concluded with “high confidence” that Khashoggi’s murder was carried out at the direction of MBS. The remarks also seemed to set an unusually high bar for U.S. officials when it comes to establishing fault for crimes committed by leaders overseas.

U.S. lawmakers are well aware that Saudi Arabia is an important contributor to oil markets and a key security partner for the U.S., but some are deeply troubled by the seeming recklessness of the crown prince.

Bin Salman is still in his 30s and has only in recent years become a powerful figure in the Saudi kingdom; he could rule the kingdom for decades after his father, King Salman, dies.

MBS is already accused of serious human rights violations well beyond what happened to Khashoggi, including ordering the abduction, imprisonment and torture of dissidents.

MBS also is in charge of the Saudi military effort in Yemen, where fighting has left millions facing famine. But Pompeo and Mattis have been urging lawmakers not to vote in favor of a resolution to cut off U.S. support for the Saudi-led forces in Yemen.

That effort was unsuccessful in the Senate, which voted 63-37 to advance the bipartisan bid to yank that U.S. support.

In an op-ed that ran Tuesday, Pompeo had argued that helping the Saudis in Yemen was key to preventing Iran from spreading its influence throughout the Middle East. In the op-ed, Pompeo accused lawmakers of "caterwauling" about Saudi Arabia's human rights record.

The war powers resolution was tabled in the chamber earlier this year, but is picking up supporters who are eager to push back on Saudi Arabia in response to a weak White House response to the Khashoggi killing.

Pompeo told reporters that the administration felt the resolution would be “poorly timed” as he felt diplomats were “on the cusp” of being able to begin negotiations for a ceasefire. Some critics argue, however, that withdrawing U.S. support from the Saudis could increase pressure on the parties involved to agree to a cease-fire.

Hanging over Wednesday’s development was the possibility that Trump may wind up running into the Saudi crown prince on the sidelines of the G-20 meeting later this week in Argentina.

The White House on Tuesday would not rule out the possibility of a Trump-MBS interaction.

If Trump takes a gregarious and friendly tone toward MBS, that will likely go down well in the Saudi kingdom, where media is tightly controlled and Khashoggi has been cast more as an Islamist sympathizer than a dissident journalist. At the same time, it could add momentum to attempts in Congress to legislate new sanctions on the Saudis.