On Wednesday, Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-VA07) spoke on the US House floor and said:
“After the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, I reviewed a call between the president and the Saudi crown prince. The American people and the Khashoggi family deserve to know what was said on that call. If history is any guide, the receipts will be shocking. I call on the president to release that transcript.”
Now, he’s holding (at 11 am) a press conference with Hanan Elatr Khashoggi – the wife of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi. See below for video and highlights. ”
- Rep. Vindman: “I’m honored to have Mrs. Khashoggi standing with me today as we remember her husband and call for transparency and accountability for her family and for the American people. Given President Trump’s disturbing and counter-factual defense of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman this week, I felt compelled to speak up on behalf of the Khashoggi family and the country I serve. That is why I took to the House floor to bring to light a call I reviewed during my tenure on Trump’s White House National Security Council staff.”
- Rep. Vindman: Talks about two calls, during his tenure on Trump’s White House National Security Council staff, that really stood out – the infamous Trump call with Ukrainian President Zelenskky “that led to Trump’s first impeachment”; and Trump’s call with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) “after the brutal murder of Washington Post journalist and Virginia resident Jamal Khashoggi.” Says Trump should release the transcript, which will be “shocking” to people when they hear it. Says our intelligence agencies concluded that the Saudi Crown Prince ordered the murder of Khashoggi.
- Hanan Elatr Khashoggi, born in Egypt, grew up in Dubai, now lives in Arlington, VA: She says she met Jamal Khashoggi in 2009. They were engaged to be married and were married in June 2018. She says Jamal Khashoggi was a good person, definitely did not deserve to be murdered. She says she wants to see the transcript of the conversation between Trump and Saudi Crown Prince MBS so she and everyone else can know the truth.
- Hanan Elatr Khashoggi: “I’m seeking the help of Congressman Vindman to get the contents of the conversation between President Trump and MBS to get the truth…Try as much as you can to save the democratic freedom of America. Do not be a copy of the Middle East dictator countries. We look to America as our role model of modern civilization. Please maintain it.”
- Rep. Jamie Raskin: Said this week was an “absolute disgrace and shame,” with Trump honoring and embracing his “business partner, the homicidal Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed Bin Salman.” Even in this “degraded administration,” this was “a week of absolute moral and ethical collapse.” Trump even reprimanded a reporter for asking a totally legitimate question about this topic, also that supposedly Khashoggi was “controversial” and about his murder, that “things happen.” In fact, Khashoggi was an American journalist, “a critic of the brutal human rights violations and repression taking place in Saudi Arabia,” abducted and murdered by Saudi agents in Istanbul. Rep. Raskin also notes that Trump bragged about saving MBS’ ass. Meanwhile, “we are being drawn in the direction of authoritarian…tyranny right now.”
- Rep. Vindman: Says we have to deal with unsavory nations, but that doesn’t mean we “whitewash their record” or fail to recognize who and what they are. Says his Republican colleagues lack bravery/courage; also notes that Trump can release this transcript.
- Rep. Vindman: On Ukraine, says “this looks like terms that were dictated from Vladimir Putin to Donald Trump, to direct capitulation of the Ukrainians, and it’s shameful and unacceptable.”
- Rep. Raskin: Says Trump’s condoning of the assassination of Khashoggi preceded by one day Trump’s essentially endorsing threats to the lives of Democrats who simply insisted that military members must not follow illegal orders.
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