Utah GOP Sen. Mike Lee said Sunday he disagrees with President Donald Trump’s assessment of the involvement of Saudi Arabia’s crown prince in the slaying of journalist Jamal Khashoggi — calling it “inconsistent” with the U.S. intelligence he’s viewed.
In an interview on NBC News’ “Meet The Press,” Lee took exception to Trump’s assertion that there was no firm conclusion that the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, ordered the killing.
“The intelligence I've seen suggests that this was ordered by the crown prince,” Lee countered.
He called his understanding of the intelligence “another reason why I've been pushing… to get us out of fighting Saudi Arabia's civil war effort in Yemen.”
On the blowback to the president’s criticism of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts— and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Lee, however, defended Trump.
“It's not entirely unprecedented for a president of the United States or another public official to criticize court rulings,” he said. “As a lawyer, I try to express disagreement with the courts without impugning the court's motive. As president of the united States, [Trump] certainly has the right to express his opinion on these things.”
“Sometimes with this president you have to look not just at what he says but also at what he does,” he added.
Lee also said he would take a hard look at a new government climate report to see what policies it might point to — but declared he’d be against a so-called carbon tax on fossil fuel use.
“All the proposals I've seen so far that would address any of these issues would devastate the U.S. economy and have little or no benefit,’ he said.
“I think if we're going to move away from fossil fuels, that has to be through innovation and it can be choked out through excessive government” regulation, he added.
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