Lindsey Graham says he will 'sanction the hell' out of Saudi over Khashoggi
US Senator Lindsey Graham has blamed the Saudi crown prince for the murder of US-based Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and said that he is “going to sanction the hell out Saudi Arabia” during a TV appearance on Tuesday morning.
Graham’s comments on the 'Fox and Friends' show - which US President Trump is known to watch avidly - came hours after reports emerged that the Saudi government plans to admit that Khashoggi was killed after he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on 2 October.
Sources have cautioned that the report is still being prepared and could change, and may conclude that the operation was carried out without clearance of the Saudi leadership, or carried out by an incompetent intelligence official.
But the admission itself would mark a stark reversal from earlier statements by Saudi officials who have strongly denied any involvement in his disappearance, and has already set off US politicians on both sides of the aisle who have been outspoken about the case.
Representative Gerry Connolly, a Democrat in whose northern Virginia district Khashoggi has been living, told Middle East Eye on Tuesday morning, in light of the overnight revelations, that "all options, including punitive sanctions, must be considered by the Trump administration".
"The United States cannot stand idly by, irrespective of our longstanding relationship with Saudi Arabia, and allow what happened to Mr Khashoggi to occur with impunity," he said.
Back on Fox, Graham said that nothing could happen in Saudi Arabia without the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman - commonly referred to as MBS - knowing about it.
"This guy is a wrecking ball. He had this guy murdered in a consulate in Turkey and to expect me to ignore it, I feel used and abused. I was on the [Senate] floor every time defending Saudi Arabia because they were a good ally."
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