Trump Administration Not Interested in Khashoggi Murder Tape, Favoring Saudi Relations

In an effort to maintain blissful ignorance, members of the Trump administration refuse to listen to the Khashoggi murder tape. After all, why listen to something you don't want to make a big deal about. U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton said he doesn't need to listen to the tape of Jamal Khashoggi's murder because, after all, he doesn't understand Arabic. He responded to reporters saying:

"Why do you think I should? What do you think I'll learn from it? ... I’m just trying to make the point that everybody who says ‘why don’t you listen to the tape’ – unless you speak Arabic, what are you going to get from it?"

_{Gage Skidmore/flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0}

That does make sense, at first. But listening to a tape of the Washington Post journalist being murdered on October 2 will impact a listener, no matter if they understand what is being said or not.

Bolton reports directly to Trump on matters of foreign policy, while leading the National Security Council that determines the national security policy of the government's other branches. The Trump administration has been under pressure from the left and right political spectrum to do something about the Saudi murder plot and hold their leaders accountable in some way. Trump has defended the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman since the event took place, and even doubting the CIA assessment that that MBS gave the orders for the hit.

Trump still holds fast with his partnership to the Saudi Arabia and the hundred billion dollar weapons deal, saying last week:

"We're not going to give up hundreds of billions of dollars in orders...Saudi Arabia, if we broke with them, I think your oil prices would go through the roof."

Standing by the claims of innocence from MBS, Trump has caused a rift with some Republicans as many of them have rejected Trump's dismissal of the CIA's assessment of MBS being involved in the murder plot. Lindsey Graham, Rand Paul and Bob Corker are some who agree that MBS was involved. Republican Senator Mike Lee said:

"I disagree with the president's assessment. It's inconsistent with the intelligence I've seen."

Bob Corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said:

"I never thought I’d see the day a White House would moonlight as a public relations firm for the crown prince of Saudi Arabia."

Members of the U.S. Senate will receive a briefing on U.S.-Saudi relations, and it doesn't include the participation of the CIA or other intelligence officials. A Senate staffer said:

"Totally unprecedented and should be interpreted as nothing less than the Trump administration trying to silence the intelligence community."

CIA director Gina Haspel and intelligence officials often go to meetings about intelligence matters. But this time it appears the White House decided to exclude Haspel from the meeting led by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary James Mattis. The meeting comes ahead of a vote to end U.S. involvement int he Saudi-led war on Yemen.

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Haspel even traveled to Turkey to hear the Khashoggi murder tapes and brief Trump. Yet she won't be allowed in on the Senate meeting about U.S.-Saudi relations. Medea Benjamin of the anti-war group CodePink told Common Dreams how troubling this is:

"Trump and John Bolton not only refuse to even listen to the Turkish tape about Khashoggi's murder, but they are also keeping Haspel away from the Senate briefing because the CIA points the finger at the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS)."

"It's mind-boggling what lengths the administration is going through to shield MBS, but there's no way to put lipstick on this pig. The world now sees MBS for the evil dictator he is, and the Senate must now do the right thing by supporting SJR54—the resolution to end U.S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen."

It's mind boggling indeed that people still fall for the illusory fantasy that the U.S. government is only about freedom and doing what's right in the world. The support and involvement in the war on Yemen is a monumental disgrace, among many others before it, you name it: Syria, Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. There is an axis of evil that people don't recognize, and it's not Russia-Iran-China: it's the U.S.-Israel-Saudi axis that unites on the common ground to fight Iran, and in the process starts, joins in or supports wars to topple governments regimes in order to remake the Middle East in their image.

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References:

• Bolton says he won't listen to Khashoggi murder tape since he doesn't speak Arabic
• 'Mind Boggling': White House Keeping CIA Chief Gina Haspel From Briefing Senate on Khashoggi Murder

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