Washington (CNN) Sen. Ben Sasse said Sunday that ending arms sales to Saudi Arabia in response to the country's involvement in the death of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi "should be on the table."

"We don't do arms sales for the purposes of the profits from arms sales. We do arms sales because we want to be allied with different countries around the globe that believe in our values and have a long-term sense of what we're up to together and why we have that alliance," Sasse, a Republican from Nebraska, told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union."

"(The) Saudis got a lot of explaining to do," he said.

US arms sales to the Saudis have become a topic of debate in recent days as the investigation into Khashoggi's death has called into question the US' relationship with the country.

On Friday, the Saudis admitted the death of Khashoggi, saying it happened after a fistfight involving more than a dozen Saudi officials at the country's consulate in Istanbul. President Donald Trump, responding to the news, said he would work with Congress to develop a response to Khashoggi's death, but said that he didn't want sanctions to affect US arms sales to the kingdom.

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