A key U.S. senator said Sunday that if Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was involved with the apparent murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the Trump administration must fundamentally “reconsider” its relationship with Riyadh.

“If the crown price was directly involved in planning and carrying out this horrific premeditated murder of a journalist, an American resident who wrote for an American paper, there should be significant consequences,” Sen. Chris Coons, Delaware Democrat, told CBS’ “Face the Nation” program.

“We should reconsider our relationship with Saudi Arabia because it needs to be a relationship not just on shared interests in arm sales and regional security but shared values,” he continued.

Pressure from lawmakers of both parties on Capitol Hill has mounted in recent days as they’ve urged the Trump administration to take a harder line with Riyadh over the Khashoggi affair. The U.S.-based writer, an outspoken critic of the Saudi regime and of Prince Salman in particular, was allegedly murdered inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.

The Saudi regime initially denied any responsibility, but officials last week conceded that Khashoggi had died as a result of “fist fight” gone wrong inside their consulate. Prince Salman has pledged to punish those responsible for the incident.

Both U.S. and Turkish officials have publicly questioned the Saudi account, with critics charging that the orders to murder Khashoggi may have come from the very top levels of the Saudi government.

Mr. Coons and other lawmakers have made clear they’ll push hard on the administration to find answers and to take action, and won’t allow the matter to fade away.

Earlier this month, Mr. Coons and other senators wrote a letter to Mr. Trump and invoked the Magnitsky Act, which gives the president 120 days to decide whether to impose sanctions against the Saudi regime.

Meanwhile, other senators believe they have the votes to shut off American arms sales to Saudi Arabia — a step the president has warned against, stressing that weapons sales to Riyadh provide huge financial windfalls and jobs for U.S. companies.

Over the weekend, Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican and harsh Saudi critic, suggested that sanctions simply may not be enough.

“Are we going to do fake sanctions? Are we going to pretend to do something by putting sanctions on 15 thugs? Or are we going to do something that hurts them?” Mr. Paul told Politico on Saturday while attending a rally for Montana GOP Senate candidate Matt Rosendale.

Mr. Paul added that he believes there could be as many as 70 votes in the Senate in favor of cutting off arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

Top U.S. military officials over the weekend reassured global partners that the administration will fully investigate the incident.

“The United States does not tolerate this kind of ruthless action to silence Mr. Khashoggi, a journalist, through violence,” Defense Secretary James Mattis told a conference in Bahrain over the weekend.

“Failure of any one nation to adhere to international norms and the rule of law undermines regional stability at a time when it is needed most,” he continued. “As President Trump noted, we’re going to get to the bottom of it. So, within our democratic form of government in the United States, we recognized it, and President Trump has called for congressional involvement in the matter.”

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