Ripping National Security Adviser John Bolton's "deliberate ignorance" on Jamal Khashoggi's murder tape and expressing his disappointment CIA Director Gina Haspel will not be present for the Senate briefing Wednesday, Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, suggests the administration is "complicit" in providing public cover for Saudi Arabia.
"What worries me is the word 'complicit' . . . we're complicit it seems to me," Sen. King told CNN's "New Day," adding "there are very good reasons to get out of the business of supporting Saudi Arabia in Yemen."
King's comments come as the Senate plans a re-vote on a resolution to withdraw U.S. military support for Saudi Arabia in the Yemen conflict, something that has been pushed for amid alleged connections of Khashoggi's murder to Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
"I am disappointed [Haspel] is not going to be there, because I think the information that the CIA has should be shared with the entire Senate," King told host John Berman.
". . . This might be an effort to forestall what looks to me like momentum building for a favorable vote on that resolution, which is in some way a test vote on what the future should be with Saudi Arabia, at least in terms in their involvement in Yemen."
The same motion failed by 10 votes in March, but Khashoggi's murder has Sen. King believing "the votes are there today."
King also ripped NSA Bolton for his news conference comment "I don't speak Arabic" as his reason for eschewing listening to the reported recording of the Turkey embassy murder of Khashoggi.
"I am pretty sure somewhere in the United States there are people that could translate that tape for him," King said. "Of course he should listen to it.
"That to me is a deliberate ignorance to not want to listen to what is important evidence in a serious case."
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