Top White House Official Involved in Saudi Sanctions Resigns

[highplainsdem]

Source: NYT

A top White House official responsible for American policy toward Saudi Arabia resigned on Friday evening, a move that may suggest fractures inside the Trump administration over the response to the brutal killing of the dissident Jamal Khashoggi.

The official, Kirsten Fontenrose, had pushed for tough measures against the Saudi government, and had been in Riyadh to discuss a raft of sanctions that the American government imposed in recent days against those identified as responsible for the killing, according to two people familiar with the conversations. Specifically, she advocated that Saud al-Qahtani, a top adviser to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, be added to the list, and he ultimately was.

The exact circumstances of her departure are murky, and it is unclear whether her advocacy for a hawkish response to the killing angered some in the White House. When she returned to Washington, according to the two people, she had a dispute with her bosses at the National Security Council, where she had served as the director for the Persian Gulf region.

A representative for the council declined to comment. Ms. Fontenrose did not reply to messages seeking comment.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/17/us/politics/trump-khashoggi-saudi-arabia.html

[CatMor]

1. It seems trump wants the whole thing swept under the rug ..

I can't believe our government would let someone get away with murder because of money deals. It is a disgrace on our country. trump is sinking the country to its lowest levels yet.

[iluvtennis]

2. Exactly

[SunSeeker]

3. I thought there were no people left with principles in the Trump Admin.

[SergeStorms]

4. It may be something she developed while in the White House.

I believe one of the prerequisites of taking any position within the Trump administration is the ability to be at least amoral, if not totally immoral. Obviously they messed up with Ms. Fontenrose. Moral defects like hers will take down this administration.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

5. Republicans have one simple Master Rule....

that anything that may cause harm to any corporate interest is wrong and in fact, should be illegal. For them, crimes against citizens are irrelevant unless the citizen is quite wealthy. Justice is proportioned according to value to business.

They truly believe it's our government's job to protect the wealthy and international corporations, and we citizens must get along only with what trickles down.

.....

[Progressive Jones]

6. That's about to stop working for them so well. nt

[KY_EnviroGuy]

7. Agree, PJ but....

we must never allow it to leave our minds that they will always have billions of dollars of support in their side that is entirely greed-based, including those that control most of America's media. Republicans and their businessmen friends began building a very complex web of right-wing greed-oriented structures back in the 60s while hardly no one noticed. I fear those structures will persist.

This will be an uphill battle always and we must never turn our backs on these greedy bastards.

............

[JohnnyRingo]

8. The number of books that will be written

by Trump's administration will fill an entire section of Amazon by the time he leaves office. This isn't the Trump Organization where non-disclosure agreements are mandatory. Tell-alls will flood the market for years.

The story of this presidency is yet to be told, and I don't doubt we can add one more now.

[RockRaven]

9. Sounds like someone who needs an invitation, or subpoena, to appear at a House committee hearing

the first week of the next term.

[BigmanPigman]

10. Hear hear!

[susanna]

11. And I will watch. n/t

[dalton99a]

16. Absolutely

[Achilleaze]

12. Jar Jar K. getting the republican Draft-Dodger-in-Chief to hide

more of their evil republican doings. Sad.

[Maxheader]

13. Forget the atrocities they commit...

Like the saudi cops that kept schoolgirls trapped in their burning school..because they didn't have on the proper garb.
Like the 9 - 11 connection..
Like the apparent indiscriminate bombing of Yemen..with americun made bombs..

This country selling those barbarians guns...is no different than iran supplying terrorists guns..supposedly a reason for pulling out of the agreement..

[EleanorR]

17. trumps, kushner personally indebted to Saudis and russians

So they will do as they're told.