(Cartoon image is by Patrick Chappatte in The New York Times.)Since the horrible murder of Jamal Khashoggi, Donald Trump has refused to place the blame for that murder where it belongs -- on Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman. He continues to say that there is no proof that the prince ordered the murder.
Senators have tried to get to the truth, and asked the administration officials to appear before them. A few days ago, Trump sent Secretary of State Pompeo and Secretary of State Mattis to inform them. Both men stuck to the Trump administration line that there was no real proof that Prince bin Salman was guilty of ordering the murder.
To their credit, those senators demanded to hear from the CIA director, and yesterday they got that chance. Evidently, the CIA director told them the truth, because both Republican and Democratic senators emerged from the closed meeting convinced of bi Salman's guilt.
This brings up the question -- why has Trump refused to accept the findings of his own CIA? Why does he continues to cover for a murderer?
He has tried to claim the U.S. would lose over $100 billion in arms sales to the Saudis. That is just a lie. There are less than $10 billion in arms contracts with the Saudis (all signed during the Obama administration). No new arms sales agreements have been signed since Trump took office.
A few days ago, he gave the Saudis credit for the low gas prices in this country. That's another lie. The U.S. actually produces more oil than Saudi Arabia, and the Saudis don't have the power in OPEC they once did.
It's far more likely that Trump is considering his own personal wealth. The Saudis have bought many millions of dollars of his properties, and they continue to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars at his hotels and other properties each year. I think Trump just doesn't want to kill the golden goose feeding his personal wealth -- and he's willing to use American foreign policy to do that. It shameful!
