Pompeo and Mattis did not seem to sway leading Senate foreign policy voices, who said they believed taking no action would send a more dangerous message to the world.
Two senior U. S. Cabinet members urged senators on Wednesday not to downgrade ties with Saudi Arabia over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, but lawmakers from both parties said they could not turn a blind eye to reports that the country’s de facto ruler was involved in last month’s killing.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said there was no hard evidence that the powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was behind the killing, seemingly contradicting an assessment by the CIA about Khashoggi’s death in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
« We have no smoking gun the crown prince was involved, not the intelligence community or anyone else. There is no smoking gun, » Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon.
Mattis said he had read all the U. S. intelligence reports about the incident and a transcript of what is believed to be an audio recording of the killing.
After repeated calls from members of Congress for a strong U. S. response to Khashoggi’s death, both Mattis and Pompeo briefed the Senate behind closed doors about Saudi Arabia, the Oct. 2 murder of Khashoggi and the war in Yemen.
Echoing similar comments from President Donald Trump, they said downgrading U. S. ties with ally Saudi Arabia would harm national security.
Pompeo acknowledged to the lawmakers that the Yemen conflict – in which Saudi Arabia is deeply involved – has taken a terrible toll on civilians, but he argued that the Saudis provide an important counterweight to Iran in the region.
« More broadly, degrading ties with Saudi Arabia would be a grave mistake for U. S. national security, and that of our allies, » Pompeo said in his prepared remarks to the Senate.
