Malinowski, who was the State Department’s top human-rights official during the Obama administration’s second term, was previously the Washington director of the advocacy group Human Rights Watch—a crusader from the outside who exerted pressure on the U.S. government over domestic torture practices and U.S. diplomatic ties to foreign governments with questionable human-rights records. In a recent interview with Foreign Policy, Malinowski outlined a legislative agenda that, among other things, included “scrutinizing the U.S.-Saudi relationship amid Saudi Arabia’s devastating war in Yemen and following the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.”

Read: For Trump, the truth about Jamal Khashoggi is beside the point

Only one week into his congressional tenure, Malinowski looked like a veteran at the podium. He called on the Trump administration to use the Magnitsky Act to sanction the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, for ordering the killing of Khashoggi, saying, “We have given the administration all of the tools that it needs to do what is right, to say to Saudi Arabia that while you may choose your own leaders, you might wish to consider the consequences of giving the keys to your kingdom for the next 50 years to someone who will be forever tainted by this crime.”

Malinowski pulled no punches in calling out the Saudi leader.

“If the administration will not do what is right, Congress can—and I think Congress will,” he said. “We can and we should wipe the smug smile of impunity off of Mohammed bin Salman’s face and restore proper balance to our relationship with Saudi Arabia.”

The room hummed in agreement, but also with some surprise. Of the 14 members of Congress who spoke—including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senators Mark Warner, Amy Klobuchar, and Chris Van Hollen, and Representatives Adam Schiff, Will Hurd, Steve Chabot, and Eliot Engel—Malinowski was the only one to mention the Magnitsky Act.

But, more significantly, he was the only one to mention the Saudi crown prince by name.

The Trump administration’s response to Khashoggi’s murder has been nothing short of ambivalent. In a bizarre statement in November, the president took Mohammed bin Salman’s word over the conclusion of the Central Intelligence Agency.

“It could very well be that the crown prince had knowledge of this tragic event—maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!” Trump said in the statement. The White House position has consistently aligned with the judgment of Mohammed bin Salman, despite the fact that the CIA determined that the crown prince personally ordered the assassination of Khashoggi.

Read: Jamal Khashoggi’s murder remains a mystery

At the American University in Cairo on Thursday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the former CIA chief, ignored the Khashoggi incident entirely in a wide-ranging speech on America’s Middle East policy. Instead, he praised Saudi Arabia for its role in containing Iran and stabilizing the region.