Kaine Statement On Anniversary Of Khashoggi Murder

Statement

Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services Committees, released the following statement on the one year anniversary of the Saudi state-sponsored murder of Virginia resident and journalist Jamal Khashoggi:

"One year after the Saudi government killed Jamal Khashoggi for exposing its human rights abuses, President Trump has failed to hold Saudi Arabia accountable and has undermined the very freedom of the press Jamal stood for. The President has dismissed evidence of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's responsibility for the murder, sold his regime weapons for the disastrous war in Yemen, and put our country's nuclear know-how into his hands. Meanwhile, by attacking reporters as "scum,' "animals,' and the "enemy of the people,' President Trump encourages violence against journalists and reveals his tyrannical fear of the free press. He is sending a message to authoritarian leaders across the world that America will no longer stand up for our core freedoms."

Kaine has been outspoken against the Saudi-sponsored murder of Virginia resident Jamal Khashoggi and Saudi Arabia's imprisonment of women's rights activists. Following a recommendation made by the United Nations, Kaine called on the FBI to open an investigation into the murder of Khashoggi in July after months of continued inaction by the Trump Administration.

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