GOP's Spine Suddenly Not Bone-Sawed In Half Over Khashoggi Murder

This is weird!

The strangest goshdarned thing happened in the Senate today. Senators on both sides of the aisle have been pissed off that CIA Director Gina Haspel wasn't originally made available by the White House to brief them on the murder of bone-saw-murdered Washington Post journalist and legal US resident Jamal Khashoggi, at the almost certain orders of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS). Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had testified to the Senate -- after we learned he traveled to Saudi Arabia just after the murder to help the Saudis cover it up. Defense Secretary James Mattis put his credibility in a lockbox for safekeeping and testified to the Senate. Both said we just can't be extra certain MBS ordered that particular bone-sawing. And of course none other than the president of the United States has said there are bad people on both sides of bone saws. ( Or something like that. )

But weirdly, the senators just weren't satisfied. It was like they wanted to hear from the director of the CIA or something, the person who was most closely read in on the intel, who had traveled to Turkey to see and hear the evidence, who heads the agency that said pretty unequivocally that MBS was behind the murder.

Gina Haspel showed up at the Senate today. Behind closed doors, no bone saws allowed.

And Lindsey Graham (R-Trump's Secret Santa) came out of the room with the most memorable quote of all:

Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said while there was no smoking gun, there was a "smoking saw," referring to the bone saw that investigators have said was used to dismember Khashoggi after he was killed by a team of agents from Saudi Arabia in that country's consulate in Istanbul in October.

SMOKING BONE SAW. Lindsey mad, y'all!

That's not all he said:

@LindseyGrahamSC on MBS: "I cannot support arm sales to Saudi Arabia as long as he's in charge of this country"

— Rosiland Jordan (@Rosiland Jordan)1543945851.0 

Bob Corker said words too, and as a Tennessee Democrat, we hate to say this, but when Marsha Blackburn is sworn in, we're gonna be missing some Bob Corker, if only a little bit:

"If the Crown Prince went in front of a jury, he would be convicted in 30 minutes," said Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), the chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations.

And that's all Bob Corker needed to say about that. Oh wait just kidding he said more too:

Q: After hearing from Haspel today and Mattis/Pompeo last week, was there a difference in the message or the determ… https://t.co/Os8eqbYR9N

— Frank Thorp V (@Frank Thorp V) 1543946381.0 

Um, pretty sure Bob Corker just accused Jim Mattis and Mike Pompeo of lying to the Senate. Is that a thing we care about anymore in Trump's America?

GOP Alabama Senator Richard Shelby said the briefing with Haspel "confirmed a lot of our thoughts about the reprehensible killing to begin with," by which he meant their "thoughts" about how MBS outright ordered the bone saw assassination.

CNN's Kaitlan Collins accurately summed up where we find ourselves right now:

The administration is now firmly at odds with Republicans on MBS and Khashoggi. Trump: "Maybe he did and maybe he… https://t.co/tOzjSYogm6

— Kaitlan Collins (@Kaitlan Collins) 1543947122.0 

There was, of course, drama, because not all the senators got to go see Gina Haspel today. Rand Paul was a REAL doofus about it.

"I can't even ask to be included in it because I didn't know it was going to happen, except for reading about it in the media. That's not the way it should be. She should have come and testified in front of all senators," Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said. "If you have some senators who are more equal than others, that is not democratic representation."

Oh for Christ's sake, Rand, it was for Republican and Democratic leadership on certain committees, and yes, we get why the whole Senate should be briefed, but when you start whining about how some senators are "more equal than others," that's when it's time to STFU and go mow your lawn and hope your next-door neighbor isn't angrily lurking around.

Anyway, if the Trump administration thought it would shut up the senators on the GOP side -- who also seem to be kind of concerned about our continued support for the Saudi war in Yemen, as they should be -- it sounds like maybe this didn't work.

Or maybe they'll all roll over and die because Trump says mean things about them on Twitter, like they usually do.

Who the fuck knows.

[ Washington Post ]

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