It is now apparent that the government of the United States, which once invaded a sovereign nation to arrest one former CIA asset who happened to have been its president—I cite this in keeping with the extended obsequies in Washington at the moment—is going to do less than squat to punish the official of a foreign government who at the very least ordered the luring, torturing, murdering, dismembering and (perhaps) dissolving of an American-resident journalist. Even the senators in the president*'s own party know this, just as clearly as they know that the president* and his Secretary of State are lying their asses off about the whole situation.

Those senators got briefed on Tuesday by CIA director Gina Haspel, and, according to the Washington Post, they've all tiptoed a foot or two out of line on the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.

Senators put themselves in direct opposition to the White House, making clear that the evidence they heard had convinced them beyond the shadow of a doubt. “If the Crown Prince went in front of a jury, he would be convicted in 30 minutes,” said Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), the chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations.

But, if you expect them to go any further than that, well, you haven't been paying attention for the past eight years, as Lindsey Graham made quite clear. In response to a question on the Khashoggi murder, he inadvertently wrote the finest summation ever of his entire embarrassing political career.

"If they were in a Democratic administration, I would be all over them for being in the pocket of Saudi Arabia.”



Tell me again about "reaching across the aisle" and working with these clowns.

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Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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