The chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee said he would introduce on Thursday legislation holding Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman responsible for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and insisting on accountability for those responsible for his death.
Despite President Donald Trump's desire to maintain close relations with Saudi Arabia, the joint resolution is backed by at least nine of his fellow Republicans in the Senate: committee Chairman Bob Corker and co-sponsors including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
The measure also warns that the kingdom's purchases of military equipment from, and cooperation with, the governments of Russia and China challenge the integrity of the U.S.-Saudi military relationship.
The measure is expected to come up for a vote in the Senate, but must also pass the House of Representatives and be signed by Trump, or win enough votes to overcome a veto, to take effect.
House Republican leaders declined to say whether they planned to vote on any Saudi-related legislation before Congress wraps up for the year later this month.
Among other provisions, the joint resolution blames the crown prince for Khashoggi's murder in Turkey, calls for the Saudi government to ensure "appropriate accountability" for all those responsible for his death, calls on Riyadh to release Saudi women's rights activists and encourages the kingdom to increase efforts to enact economic and social reforms.
And it declares that there is no statutory authorization for U.S. involvement in hostilities in Yemen's civil war and supports the end of air-to-air refueling of Saudi-led coalition aircraft operating in Yemen.
The Senate is due to vote later on Thursday on a separate Saudi Arabia measure, a war powers resolution that would end all U.S. involvement with the coalition involved in the Yemen war. That measure would need to pass the House and survive a threatened Trump veto to become law.
Senators have been enraged by Khashoggi's October killing and the White House's response, and that outrage prompted several Republicans to support the Yemen resolution because it would be seen as a rebuke to the longtime ally. Others had previously cited concerns about the war in Yemen, which human rights groups say is wreaking havoc on the country and subjecting civilians, many of them children, to indiscriminate bombing and disease.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary James Mattis briefed the Senate last month and told senators that there was "no direct reporting" or "smoking gun" to connect the crown prince to Khashoggi's death at a Saudi consulate in Turkey. But a smaller group of senators leaving a separate briefing with CIA Director Gina Haspel days later said there was "zero chance" the crown prince wasn't involved.
Khashoggi, who had lived in the U.S. and wrote for The Washington Post, had been critical of the Saudi regime. He was killed in what U.S. officials have described as an elaborate plot as he visited the consulate in Istanbul for marriage paperwork.
Pressed on a response to the slaying, Trump has been reluctant to condemn the crown prince. He said the United States "intends to remain a steadfast partner" of the country, touted Saudi arms deals worth billions of dollars to the U.S. and thanked the country for plunging oil prices.
Saudi prosecutors have said a 15-man team sent to Istanbul killed Khashoggi with tranquilizers and then dismembered his body, which has not been found. Those findings came after Saudi authorities spent weeks denying Khashoggi had been killed in the consulate.
