WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Wednesday released the following statement on the one-year anniversary of the brutal murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi: 

“It’s been one year since the Saudi government brutally murdered Jamal Khashoggi and lied about it to Congress and the American people, and there has been no accountability. The Trump administration considers America the junior partner in our relationship with Saudi Arabia, and is scared to take any actions that might upset the Saudis. This is unacceptable and it telegraphs a weakness to the world that gravely damages our nation's security. Congress has tried to make up for the White House's failing, most recently by passing legislation to pull the U.S. out of the disastrous Saudi-led war in Yemen, but Trump still stands in our way, vetoing the legislation. Despite all this, I am going to continue to press for meaningful accountability. To start with, we need to see the transcripts of President Trump’s calls with the Saudis that were allegedly hidden by administration officials on a secret server to hide incriminating or embarrassing actions by the president,” said Murphy. 

Since 2015, Murphy has been a critic of U.S. support for the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen. He has repeatedly expressed concern that U.S. participation in Saudi Arabia’s military actions against Houthi rebels in Yemen threatens our own national security interests. Following the murder of Khashoggi, Murphy reiterated his call for the suspension of military support for the Saudi-led campaign in a Washington Post op-ed. Last year, Murphy introduced a bipartisan resolution with U.S. Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) pursuant to the War Powers Act to end unauthorized U.S. military involvement. The resolution passed both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate earlier this year before being vetoed by President Trump. This was the first time since the War Powers Act became law in 1973 that both houses of Congressed passed a War Powers Act resolution. 

###