"Our ability to be a voice for human rights ... is undermined and compromised if we are not willing to confront something as atrocious as what’s allegedly happened here," said Sen. Marco Rubio. | Alex Brandon/AP Photo Congress Rubio: No ‘business as usual’ with Saudi Arabia

Sen. Marco Rubio said Sunday the U.S. should not continue with “business as usual" in response to Saudi Arabia following the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Rubio, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, added he did not think Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin should attend an upcoming economic summit in Saudi Arabia.


"I don't think he should go," the Florida Republican said on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday. "I don't think any of our government officials should be going and pretending it's business as usual until we know exactly what's happened here."

Khashoggi, a Washington Post journalist, has not been seen since entering a Saudi consulate in Turkey earlier this month. Turkey claims Khashoggi was murdered there.

Rubio told host Jake Tapper the United States' response to Khashoggi's disappearance should be strong, and "not just symbolic."

Florida Playbook newsletter Our must-read briefing on what's hot, crazy or shady about politics in the Sunshine State. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

"No matter how important they might be to our Iranian strategy, our ability to be a voice for human rights ... is undermined and compromised if we are not willing to confront something as atrocious as what’s allegedly happened here," he said.

Pressed on whether President Donald Trump should cut off arms sales to Saudi Arabia if it is found responsible, Rubio said the option shouldn't be off the table.

"Arms sales are important not because of the money but because it also provides leverage over their future behavior. ... I would not take cutting that off off the table," he said. "Every option needs to be there in a response."

Addressing the same topic on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Rubio said the U.S. needed to respond strongly in order to keep the high ground when speaking out on other international issues.

“Our moral credibility, our ability to call Putin a murderer because he is, our ability to call Assad a murderer because he is, our ability to confront Maduro in Venezuela or any of these other human rights atrocities like what we see in China, all of that is undermined and compromised if we somehow decide that because an ally who is important did that we're not going to call it out,“ Rubio told Chuck Todd, referencing Russia, Syria and other global trouble spots.