Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

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Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, today I am introducing legislation to require the Director of National Intelligence to provide the Congress and the public an assessment of who carried out, participated in, ordered, or was otherwise complicit in, or responsible for, the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.

This question is of enormous importance to the Congress and the American people. Jamal Khashoggi was a journalist. He wrote for the Washington Post, and he resided in the United States. He visited the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, only because he was seeking documents to get married. But he never came out. The Saudis killed him, and they covered it up.

Naturally, the American people want to know what happened and who ordered this assassination. In an interview on November 18, Donald Trump was asked whether the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Muhammad bin Salman, lied to him when he denied knowing about Khashoggi's murder. But Trump's response was simply ``Will anybody really know?''

Those kinds of judgments are what we have an Intelligence Community for. So I called for CIA Director Gina Haspel and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats to come forward and provide a public assessment of who was responsible for the killing of Jamal Khashoggi. Unfortunately, that did not happen, and Donald Trump only doubled down. Last Tuesday, he put out a sickening statement in which he made it clear that he did not care who may have ordered the murder. In a display of cowardice and weakness, Donald Trump let it be known that his blind devotion to the Saudis will lead him to abandon American values, as well as our moral standing in the world.

The reasons behind Donald Trump's embrace of the Saudi dictators at the expense of American interests, like his affection for President Putin, are not fully known. In both cases, there are financial entanglements that demand aggressive and thorough investigation.

And, in both cases, Donald Trump has attempted to muddy the waters by casting doubts on U.S. intelligence. That is why, in his statement last Tuesday, he continued to insist that the murder of Jamal Khashoggi was an unsolvable mystery. This is what he said: ``Our intelligence agencies continue to assess all information, but it could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event--maybe he did and maybe he didn't!''

Donald Trump no doubt hopes that will be the last word. But Congress can make sure that it isn't. My legislation requires the Intelligence Community to provide an unclassified, public assessment about the killing of Jamal Khashoggi. That assessment, not the predictable obfuscations of Donald Trump, will then provide the basis on which the Congress and the American people can move forward after this atrocity.

This intelligence assessment is critical to the debate currently going on in the Congress about U.S. policy toward Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom's human rights abuses go well beyond the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. A report last week about the torture of women's rights activists is just the latest of many years of accounts of abuses carried out by this autocratic and brutal regime. Many Members of Congress, including myself, are also deeply concerned about Saudi Arabia's role in the war in Yemen, which has created almost unimaginable suffering.

The importance of a public Intelligence Community assessment about the Khashoggi murder extends beyond Saudi Arabia. If the world's dictators know that they can kill journalists and American residents, and Donald Trump will stand in the way of a public accounting, the door may be open to future murders. Congress must not allow this to happen. Congress must draw the line. That start with letting the Intelligence Community speak for itself and allowing the Nation, and the world, to know what the Intelligence Community assesses actually happened.

Finally, Mr. President, let me address the argument that the assessments of the Intelligence Community must remain secret. In many cases, I agree. But, as I've just explained, the questions about this brutal murder are far too important for Congress and the American people to accept the cloud of Donald Trump's willful ignorance. In addition, it is simply unacceptable for Donald Trump to purport to speak about intelligence matters and for the leaders of the Intelligence Community to just hide under their desks. The American taxpayer pays the Intelligence Community over $80 billion a year to uncover the truth and arrive at objective assessments. If all the American people get is Donald Trump telling them that everything is unknowable, then what is the point? This problem has come up in other contexts, especially with regard to election interference. Unfortunately, it is not going away. So it is the job of Congress to insist that the Intelligence Community tell us what they really think. And, if they won't, then Congress must require it. ______

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