they have studied it a lot. they have nothing definitive. this is about america first. they are paying us $400 billion plus to purchase and invest in our country. china and russia would love to make $100 billion worth of military equipment from saudi arabia. we have the contract. they wanted those contracts. that would be a big fat beautiful gift to russia and to china. they are not going to get that gift. rachel: but the top republican and democrat on the senate foreign relations committee are demanding an investigation into whether the crown prince ordered khashoggi s killing. here is republican chairman bob corker. we have a crown prince that i believe directed the killing of a journalist. and i just the language that was used, it was as if they were writing a press release for saudi arabia. not for the united states. rachel: and ranking democrat bob menendez tweeting, quote: the fact is we have k. not allow
didn t. the statement which was part of a rambling first person narrative that some speculate the president himself wrote or dictated, spark the an immediate backlash. the publisher of the washington post fred ryan called it, quote, a betrayal of long established american values of respect for human rights and the expectation of trust and honesty in our strategic relationships. he said the president is placing personal relationships and commercial interests above american interests. before leaving for mar-a-lago this afternoon, the president said this. it s a very complex situation. it s a shame, but it is what it is. i m not going to destroy the world economy and i m not going to destroy the economy for our country by being foolish with saudi arabia. this is about america first. they re paying us $400 billion plus to purchase and invest in our country. that s probably the biggest amount ever paid to the united states. this is over a long period of
country by being foolish with saudi arabia. this is about america first. they re paying us $400 billion plus to purchase and invest in our country. that s probably the biggest amount ever paid to the united states. this is over a long period of time. it means hundreds of thousands of jobs, billions of dollars of investment and product. it s about make america great again. it s about america first. we re going to stay with saudi arabia. and that, ladies and gentlemen, was president trump lying again. saudi arabia is not really paying us hundreds of billions of dollars or creating hundreds of thousands of jobs. it s 14 1/2 billion dollars for new weaponry. and if you can count it, it s fewer than 20,000 jobs per year. a recent estimate is 17,000. former senior director and spokesperson for the national security counsel in the obama administration, also joining us is evelyn farkas, senior fellow
know, there are scenes in movies set in washington in which some populist figure ends up in the oval office. there s a scene where they basically say, cut the crap. we have to let this murderer go or we have to let this happen because this is the truth about america. the truth is that we have to deal with the dangerous world and you ve got to get your hands dirty and you re too pure and this is how things really are and then the populist leader says, not in my country. and you re not going to do all this. and this is trump basically being the villain in a hollywood melodrama saying saudi arabia, what are we supposed to do? they re giving us $400 billion and that is all we can have.
just moments after a ceremonial pardoning of the thanksgiving turkey at the white house i will be issuing both peas and carrots a presidential pardon. reporter: president trump delivered a chilling message on the killing of saudi journalist, jamal khashoggi. in a statement that begins with america first, the president seemed to dismiss a cia assessment that found saudi arabia s crown prince, mohamed bin salman, ordered khashoggi s killing. saying it could very well be that the crown prince had knowledge of this tragic event. maybe he did and maybe he didn t. leaving for thanksgiving, the president defended his decision to side with the saudis. are you letting the saudis get away with murder? no. murdering a journalist? no, no. this is about america first. they re paying us $400 billion-plus to purchase and invest in our country. that s probably the biggest amount ever paid to the united states. don t you believe the cia? they didn t make a determination. it s just lik