25 May 2019 7:51 pm
Gee. I wonder why he favors Saudi Arabia so much?Trump bypasses Congress to push through arms sales to Saudis, UAE
The Trump administration on Friday cited a national security "emergency" allegedly caused by Iran to bypass Congress and rush through arms sales worth billions of dollars to Saudi Arabia and other Middle East allies, in a move that drew condemnation from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
Citing a rarely used provision of arms control law, the administration informed lawmakers it was declaring a national security emergency, allowing it to go ahead with the sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan without congressional approval, according to administration letters sent to senators and obtained by NBC News.
"I have determined that an emergency exists which requires the proposed sale in the national security interest of the United States, and, thus, waives the congressional review requirements," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wrote in a letter to Sen. James Risch, the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
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The move came despite growing bipartisan opposition to any arms sales to Saudi Arabia amid outrage over the killing of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last year, as well as over Riyadh's air war in Yemen that has caused high numbers of civilian casualties.
A bipartisan majority in Congress has voted to halt U.S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen but President Donald Trump vetoed the legislation last month.
“Saudi Arabia, I get along with all of them. They buy apartments from me.
They spend $40 million, $50 million,” Trump said during a presidential campaign rally in Alabama in August 2015.
“Am I supposed to dislike them? I like them very much.”
At another rally that year, Trump said of the Saudis, “I make a lot of money from them.”
“They buy all sorts of my stuff. All kinds of toys from Trump.
They pay me millions and hundred of millions.”