Amid calls for U.S. sanctions against Saudi Arabia over alleged involvement in the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, President Donald Trump's reluctance to impact U.S. business with Saudi Arabia was challenged Tuesday by Talking Points Memo.
The reported $110 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia includes both past spending and possible, not finalized, future contracts which may or may not come, according to the report.
"In other words: Most of the deals Trump has refused to block in response to Khashoggi's suspected murder are nascent proposals, at best, and many may never see the light of day," TPM's Matt Shuham wrote.
The report pointed to President Trump's Oval Office comments Oct. 11 showing initial skepticism at calls for economic sanctions aimed at "stopping massing amounts of money being poured into our country" because he did not want to cut off Saudi Arabia as "they're spending $110 billion dollars on military equipment."
TPM, citing numerous past reports, wrote "in short, the deal doesn't really exist — yet" and "memorandums of Intent are just that: Intent, not reality."
The $110 billion total not only might include spending during former President Barack Obama's administration, according to TPM, citing a Congressional Research Service report in September, but only $14.5 billion has been signed to be spent thus far, according to reports by AP and CNN.
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