Josh Marshall flagged that floor speech by Rep. Vindman:
Yesterday President Trump met in the Oval Office with Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) and, in the midst of defending him over the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, said that MBS “knew nothing about it.” Last night Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-VA) went to the well of the House and gave a brief speech in which he said that the two most troubling presidential calls he had reviewed while serving on the National Security Council staff were the infamous one with President Zelenskyy and another heretofore unknown call with MBS. Vindman then goes on to imply that the call showed Trump not knew MBS ordered the murder but likely supported it. Vindman first posted the video on Twitter last night. This morning he posted the same video on Bluesky. But in the caption he writes in the post — as opposed to the video — he zeroes in specifically on Trump’s claim that MBS “knew nothing about it.”
Based on Vindman’s statement and what we already know about Trump generally and the U.S. intelligence community’s verdict on the murder, it seems clear that MBS admitted to ordering the murder — that he admitted it to Trump and that Trump was completely fine with it. He did everything he could to protect MBS after the fact. The last point is a matter of public record. It’s important to remember that for a time it seemed like a very open question whether MBS could remain as the de facto ruler of the country after the facts of Khashoggi’s murder emerged. Whether the U.S. and Europe really had the muscle to force that change, I don’t really know. But Trump did MBS a very, very big solid.
They are bros, no doubt about it:
The U.S. Intelligence community said unequivocally that MBS ordered the killing. Trump said at the time that MBS told him he didn’t do it and he believed him. That’s a contradiction and the American people have a right to know what was said between the two.
I’m not going to hold my breath that anyone will ever release it because they’ll cite national security concerns and that will be that. I suppose it’d always possible that Trump will do it himself, though. He did before and he’s very stupid.
Nonetheless, if the Democrats win the majority next year, they should pound the drum for him to do it. It’s very possible that there was a quid pro quo since that’s what he does. And I would not be surprised if it was one that benefited Trump personally. There’s so much money flowing into his and the rest of his family’s hands from Saudi Arabia that the whole thing needs to be thoroughly examined.