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White House refuses to meet Senate deadline on Khashoggi killing

NeverTrump

Exposing GOP since 2015
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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
 
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.
 
NeverTrump said:
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
Click to expand...

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.
 
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.
 
NeverTrump said:
The murder of a journalist by the upper echelons of Saudi Arabia is not nothing.
Click to expand...

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.
 
Skeptic Bob said:
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.
Click to expand...

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.
 
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.)

 
NeverTrump said:
The murder of a journalist by the upper echelons of Saudi Arabia is not nothing.
Click to expand...

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