The leaders of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee demanded on Tuesday that the Trump administration examine whether Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman was responsible for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi last month.

Republican Senator Bob Corker and Democratic Senator Bob Menendez sent a letter to President Donald Trump triggering a provision of the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act requiring the president to determine whether a foreign person was responsible for a human rights violation.

Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally, said on Tuesday there is strong bipartisan support in Congress for serious sanctions against Saudi Arabia, "including appropriate members of the royal family."

Graham's statement comes hours after Trump reiterated his defense of Riyadh over the killing of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi, even though the CIA believes Saudi Arabia's crown prince ordered the killing.