Vice President Mike Pence said the U.S. government is working to obtain all the facts related to the murder of Saudi native and U.S. resident Jamal Khashoggi earlier this month, but will do so while attempting to maintain the U.S.-Saudi relationship.
Khashoggi was last seen Oct. 2 entering the Saudi consulate in Instanbul, and White House officials have in recent days called it a murder, but are still determining the exact circumstances and possible involvement by Saudi officials.
Speaking at an event hosted by the Washington Post Oct. 23, Pence called the incident “an assault on a free and independent press” and a “brutal murder of a journalist, of an innocent man, of a dissident [that] will not go without an American response.” Khashoggi had written for the Post since 2017.
“As we demand that those responsible are held accountable for this barbaric act, we will also do so in the light and in context of America’s vital national interests in the [Middle Eastern] region,” Pence added. He noted that the U.S.-Saudi relationship goes back over 60 years and represents “an enormously important alliance in the region” particularly in the United States’ and its allies confrontations with Iran.
“We’ll look for ways to hold those accountable who are accountable. We’ll make sure the world has the facts, the American people have the facts about what happened here,” he added. That being said, the U.S.-Saudi ties are ”truly essential to our national security interests,” he continued.
CIA Director Gina Haspel is currently in Turkey getting an update on the situation, and will brief the senior White House leadership when she returns, Pence said.
It will be up to President Trump to decide whether to impose sanctions on the Saudi government if the evidence shows any officials were involved, he added. Trump has until late January to take action on any high-level Saudi officials in response to an October letter signed by over 20 senators that triggered the Global Magnitsky Act (Defense Daily, Oct. 12). Multiple lawmakers have expressed concerns regarding the continuation of U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia and support of the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, with many calling to cease both efforts.
Even as Trump has acknowledged that Saudi Arabia may have had some involvement in Khashoggi’s murder, he has been reluctant to agree with any effort to curb the $110 billion in defense arms and equipment that he negotiated last year while visiting the Gulf state.
Over the past few days, the president has enlarged the estimated value and jobs that would be created by the deal, initially telling reporters it could affect 450,000 jobs. By last Friday, it was up to one million jobs.
“You’re talking about over a million jobs. You know, I’d rather keep the million jobs, and I’d rather find another solution,” he told reporters at a defense round table Friday at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, according to a White House transcript.
Pence said: “We’ll do what’s best for the American people. We’ll also make sure that the world knows the truth of what happened.”