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WASHINGTON — Several U.S. Senators say they are now even more convinced that the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia knew about the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

CIA Director Gina Haspel met with members of Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday for a briefing about U.S. intelligence related to the killing.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said after the briefing: “There’s not a smoking gun, there’s a smoking saw.”  

Graham added that it was “virtually impossible” for Khashoggi’s killing to be carried out without the knowledge of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.

Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), head of the Foreign Relations Committee, said one would have to be “willfully blind” to ignore evidence of the Crown Prince’s involvement.  Corker added that the Saudi leader would be “convicted in 30 minutes in a fair criminal trial.”

New Jersey’s Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, said the death of Khashoggi “deserves a very strong response from the U.S.”

President Trump has cast doubt on the CIA assessment on the involvement of the Saui Crown Prince  and often notes the strong strategic and business relationship between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia.  

Jamal Khashoggi was brutally murdered after entering a Saudi consulate in Turkey in early October.  Khashoggi was a Saudi citizen with U.S. residence rights and was very critical of the Saudi regime.  

(Photo by Marek Slusarczyk/Getty.)