WASHINGTON — Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard is lashing out at President Donald Trump after the president argued that canceling Saudi arms deals worth billions of dollars to U.S. defense companies would only benefit Russia and China.
Some of Trump’s GOP colleagues have warned that not punishing Saudi Arabia for its role in killing a U.S.-based columnist will have dangerous consequences.
Critics have accused the president of ignoring human rights and giving the kingdom a pass for economic reasons.
Trump said his rationale for his decision was “America First.”
Gabbard tweeted Wednesday that “being Saudi Arabia’s bitch is not ‘America First.’”
Messages left with the Hawaii Democrat’s office seeking further comment were not immediately returned.
Many Republicans — even Sens. Lindsey Graham and Rand Paul, who share their views on the matter with the president — have denounced Trump’s decision not to levy harsher penalties on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the death and dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.
Sen. Bob Corker, the Republican chairman of the influential Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Wednesday he was “astounded” by Trump’s statement and likened it to a press release for Saudi Arabia.
“It is a delicate situation when we have a long-term ally that we’ve had for decades, but we have a crown prince that I believe ordered the killing of a journalist,” Corker told Chattanooga TV station WTVC in his home state of Tennessee. “We don’t have a smoking gun. Everything points to the fact that he knew about it and directed it.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo defended Trump’s decision, saying the U.S. has already placed sanctions on 17 Saudi officials suspected of involvement in the Oct. 2 killing of The Washington Post columnist, who had been critical of the royal family.
“We’ve sanctioned 17 people — some of them very senior in the Saudi government,” Pompeo said Wednesday in a radio interview with KCMO in Kansas City, Missouri. “We are going to make sure that America always stands for human rights.”
Graham, R-S.C., isn’t convinced. “When we lose our moral voice, we lose our strongest asset,” he said.
Members of both parties have accused Trump of ignoring U.S. intelligence that concluded, according to one U.S. official, that it was likely the crown prince ordered the killing. Several lawmakers have indicated that the U.S. has no “smoking gun” that proves he was responsible, but they have called on the CIA and other top intelligence agencies to publicly share what they told the president about the slaying.
In his statement Tuesday, Trump argued that punishing Saudi Arabia by “foolishly canceling” Saudi arms deals worth billions of dollars to the U.S. would only benefit Russia and China. Critics, including high-ranking officials in other countries, accused Trump of ignoring human rights and giving Saudi Arabia a pass for economic reasons.
Trump also said the U.S. needs Saudi Arabia’s help to counter Iran in the region, fight extremism and keep oil prices steady. The U.S., Russia and the Saudis have boosted oil production in anticipation of sharply lower exports from Iran due to U.S. sanctions reinstated after Trump exited the Iran nuclear deal.
Trump publicly thanked Saudi Arabia on Wednesday for plunging oil prices. However, OPEC, the cartel of oil-producing countries, could announce production cuts at its Dec. 6 meeting in Vienna, nudging prices upward.
“Thank you to Saudi Arabia, but let’s go lower!” he wrote from his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, where he’s spending Thanksgiving.
Criticism of the president will likely resume after the holiday when lawmakers return to Capitol Hill early next week.
Associated Press writers Matthew Lee, Maria Danilova and Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.
So
Tulsi goes to Syria and comes back with glowing reports on how a good
guy Assad is, all the time he was gassing his own people. Now, she calls
the Donald a bad name. Hmm.
Imagine if someone had used the same phrase Gabbard did to criticize her visit with Assad, lol.
Or if someone had referred to Øbozo as being Iran and Khomeini’s b!tch which he obviously was..
Not a peep out of her when Øbozo was shipping millions in cash by the pallet load to Iran.
Iran was actively engaged in killing US servicemen while she was in Iraq as I recall.
It was Assad’s Syrian forces and Russian forces (along with some US help) that prevented ISIS from taking over Syria and slaughtering millions more innocent people. We should be grateful to them for preventing ISIS from exporting more Islamic terrorism all over the world. Tulsi had the guts to go over to Syria to see for herself what was really going on. I commend her for that and for countering the support the jihadists got from John McCain & company. By the way, McCain’s Free Syrian Beheaders have now joined Al Nusra in Idlib, the last jihadist stronghold in Syria. Turkey has prevented Syria from retaking Idlib. So, Idlib continues to be controlled by ISIS types. Tulsi Gabbarb did the right thing in this case.
What? So we should support a guy that gases he own people?Tulsi has jumped the shark!
Tulsi joined the rest of the illiterate, nasty democrats. They all learn their words from rap music.
Grandstanding Gabby!
A political move to polish up her Progressive support She had no problem going to the Middle East on behalf of Trump.
I was her constituent . I am completely ashamed of her . I disavow her as my Congregational Representative . Her re-election is now annulled in my mind , Gabbard is NOT my CD-2 Rep . I have no Rep. Gabbard is in violation of the UCMJ and I trust that the Pentagon and President Trump are taking a close look at her partisan insubordination . May the chips fall where they deserve to fall .
The UCMJ??? I’m confused…is Rep. Gabbard active military?
‘Partisan insubordination?’ Trump practically invented it with his insubordination to the Constitution of the United States.
Yes she’s reserve.
Still, unless she’s on active duty or on drill status, she is not subject to the UCMJ.
She is subject to bad press for using rap music terms for the President.
Goes right along with the disgraceful politically partisan remarks she made recently at our West Hawaii Veterans Cemetery on Veterans Day . And so many old vets came up and shook her hand after that . Shameful . This is one of the most politically unenlightened places in this entire country . Sad .
Major Gabbard IS subject to , and in violation of , the UCMJ .
How well informed about our Representatives some people are . Are they seek to voice their opinions . ” Yep, I don’t know a thing about her/it , but this is what I think about her/it”
I was shocked to read the very disappointing tweet about Trump and Saudi Arabia by Tulsi Gabbard. She could have used better language. This single tweet has cost her tens of thousands of votes in her next election. Civilized people don’t talk this way, especially when talking about delicate international affairs. She obviously doesn’t have a clue about maintaining good relations with Saudi Arabia, a nation that buys billions of dollars worth of our products and a lot of our debt each year. It would be a good idea for her to apologize to the President and to her constituents about her nasty tweet.
You seriously cannot believe anyone will remember this ,come next election time for her ? The great majority of people here choose to suffer from ” intentional suspension of disbelief ” , political amnesia and myopia .
What they will know is that Tulsi “talks too much” Gabbard has done nothing for the betterment of anyone in Hawaii since being in Congress. Talkity, talkity, talk. That is all.