WASHINGTON (AP) — Senators leaving a briefing with CIA Director Gina Haspel say they are even more convinced that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was involved in the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker said he believes if the crown prince were put on trial, a jury would find him guilty in "about 30 minutes."
Tuesday's briefing comes as the Senate weighs punishing the longtime Middle East ally over the killing. President Donald Trump has equivocated over who is to blame. Frustrated with the administration's response, senators voted last week to move forward on a resolution curtailing U.S. backing for the Saudi-led war in Yemen.
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said after the briefing that there is "zero chance" the crown prince wasn't involved in Khashoggi's death, and that he will push the Senate to vote on a resolution that finds the crown prince complicit in the journalist's murder.
One would have to "be willfully blind" not to come to the conclusion that Khashoggi's death was orchestrated and organized by people under the crown prince, Graham said.
The senator also says he cannot support arms sales to Saudi Arabia so long as the crown prince is in charge. Trump has said stopping the sales would only help nations such as China and Russia.
Democratic leaders say Haspel should give the full Senate the same briefing they received.
Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said every senator "should hear what I heard this afternoon," and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul called excluding senators from the briefing the "definition of the deep state."
