White House refuses to meet Senate deadline on Khashoggi killing (1 Viewer)

[NeverTrump]

Breakdown:

President Donald Trump will not be honoring a request from a bipartisan group of senators to investigate and report on Jamal Khashoggi's brutal killing.

Khashoggi, a reporter who wrote for The Washington Post, was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on October 2.

A bipartisan group of senators in October invoked the Global Magnitsky Act, giving Trump 120 days to investigate and report on Khashoggi's killing. Friday marked the 120-day deadline.

Critics say Trump is breaking the law by ignoring the request.

WTF is all this stuff always connected??????? Recall if you will Trump's excuse for the Trump Tower meeting. Yup, that Magnitsky Act...

White House refuses to meet Senate deadline on Khashoggi killing

 

[Rexedgar]

View attachment 67250082

 

[Skeptic Bob]

Yeah, this seems to me that the White House is in violation of the law. I don’t know what that means, though. It isn’t like the law lists a penalty for disobeying.

 

[Mycroft]

Breakdown:



WTF is all this stuff always connected??????? Recall if you will Trump's excuse for the Trump Tower meeting. Yup, that Magnitsky Act...

White House refuses to meet Senate deadline on Khashoggi killing

First of all, don't get excited. The Global Magnitsky Act has nothing to do with that Trump Tower meeting, except that the Russian lawyer who asked for the meeting under false pretenses had dealing in the US with an unrelated case that involved that Act.

Second of all, don't give a whole lot of credence to Trump critics. Read your own article. Trump has already dealt with the Khashoggi killing...under the Global Magnitsky Act...last November. Congress is raising a stink over nothing.

The senior Trump administration official said that the U.S. "was the first country to take significant measures, including visa actions and sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act, against those responsible for this heinous act."

The official added that the State Department regularly updates Congress on the status of actions related to Khashoggi's killing.

"The U.S. government will continue to consult with Congress and work to hold accountable those responsible for Jamal Khashoggi’s killing," the official said.

 

[NeverTrump]

First of all, don't get excited. The Global Magnitsky Act has nothing to do with that Trump Tower meeting, except that the Russian lawyer who asked for the meeting under false pretenses had dealing in the US with an unrelated case that involved that Act.

Second of all, don't give a whole lot of credence to Trump critics. Read your own article. Trump has already dealt with the Khashoggi killing...under the Global Magnitsky Act...last November. Congress is raising a stink over nothing.

The murder of a journalist by the upper echelons of Saudi Arabia is not nothing.

 

[OrphanSlug]

Nothing is really going to happen here.

The issue is with the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act itself, which was written to give Congress some authority to request things but there is only so far the Act can go as it could be looked at as interference in the Executive Branch. That is not conclusive, but it might be depending on what Congress demands. And technically the entire Act, originally aimed at Russia, is not about going after a nation but individuals from a nation who may be guilty of human rights abuses. The Act says freeze assets and restrict travel to the US, nothing about doing much else including dealing with the host nation in any regard.

In this case what a Committee did was "invoke" their right to ask the President for their determination if leaders in Saudi Arabia are have committed human rights abuses. By the Act the President has 120 days to respond to the Committee, but what is unclear is what happens if the President does nothing.

Trump can submit a letter saying he intends to do nothing, and that gives Congress no authority to do something to an individual in another nation in place of the President.

Trump can submit a letter saying he intends to freeze someone's assets and block them from coming to the US, that gives Congress no authority to say it is not enough because they would rather someone else or many others be punished.

In reading the Act there is no direct recourse for Congress or punishment for the President, other than bitching about it. I guess they can hold the umpteenth hearing on the matter but I do not see where they can compel anyone from the Executive Branch to defend Trump not responding or not doing enough.

Now, what Congress can do is make it painful for Trump to negotiate other items with Saudi Arabia like arms deals. But that may be a line in the sand moment as most Republicans are more than happy to indulge the Military Industrial Complex.

I am unsure this will result in much other than continued escalation of the feud between Trump and Congress.

 

[Mycroft]

The murder of a journalist by the upper echelons of Saudi Arabia is not nothing.

I didn't say that, so take your rhetoric and shove it.

What Congress is raising a stink over is something that has been and is still being dealt with. That means they are raising a stink over nothing.

 

[Xelor]

Yeah, this seems to me that the White House is in violation of the law. I don’t know what that means, though. It isn’t like the law lists a penalty for disobeying.

Red:
Well, of course, it doesn't; nobody fathomed that American citizens ever would be party to violations of the "Mag" Act. LOL

I suppose Congress could charge the President with contumacy and upon his appearance at the Capitol or within the scope of Congress' geographic authority, but I seriously doubt the Senate would dust-off the Congress' ability to do so.

 

[Mycroft]

I think it's appropriate to provide members with information on exactly what the Global Magnitsky Act is. That way they won't look stupid when they make comments. (Unless, of course, they just WANT to look stupid.)

Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act

(Sec. 3) This bill authorizes the President to impose U.S. entry and property sanctions against any foreign person (or entity) who:

is responsible for extrajudicial killings, torture, or other gross violations of internationally recognized human rights committed against individuals in any foreign country seeking to expose illegal activity carried out by government officials, or to obtain, exercise, or promote human rights and freedoms;
acted as an agent of or on behalf of a foreign person in such activities;
is a government official or senior associate of such official responsible for, or complicit in, ordering or otherwise directing acts of significant corruption, including the expropriation of private or public assets for personal gain, corruption related to government contracts or the extraction of natural resources, bribery, or the facilitation or transfer of the proceeds of corruption to foreign jurisdictions; or
has materially assisted or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services in support of, such activities.
The authority to block and prohibit transactions in property and property interests shall not include the authority to impose sanctions on the importation of goods (any article, natural or man made substance, material, supply or manufactured product, including inspection and test equipment, excluding technical data).

The President shall, after receiving a request from the chairperson and ranking member of one of the appropriate congressional committees with respect to whether a foreign person has engaged in a prohibited activity:

determine if the person has engaged in such an activity; and
report to the chairperson and ranking member whether or not the President imposed or intends to impose specified sanctions against the person.
Sanctions shall not apply to an individual as necessary for law enforcement purposes, or to comply with the Agreement between the United Nations (U.N.) and the United States regarding the U.N. Headquarters or other applicable international obligations of the United States.

The President may terminate sanctions under specified conditions.

The Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor may submit to the Department of State the names of foreign persons who may meet the sanctions criteria.

(Sec. 4) The President shall report to Congress annually regarding each foreign person sanctioned, the type of sanctions imposed, and the reason for their imposition.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/284

 

[Risky Thicket]

The murder of a journalist by the upper echelons of Saudi Arabia is not nothing.

As always Mycroft responds using Kremlin logic. Wonder where he gets it? :doh

To everyone else, the answer is as obvious as a shart stain on a bridal gown.

The real story behind the story is the (yet) untold hundreds of millions of dollars that have traveled via Saudi Arabia into the pockets of President "God's Choice" Trump, his staff ...I mean family ...wait, his family is his staff, OK then, famstaff and the movers and shakers in the upper treason level of the GOP in Washington.

Russia is not the only country who owns a piece of Trump and members on the Hill.

 

[Rexedgar]

I agree with the above sentiment. When this all washes out, there will more than Trump’s complicity, imo.