President Donald Trump won't comply with a law requiring him to tell Congress if Saudi Arabia had committed a human rights violation in connection with the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, so lawmakers have come to a bipartisan agreement to take steps in the matter, Sen. Chris Murphy said Wednesday.
The Connecticut Democrat also told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that he and others senators attending a closed-door meeting with Trump administration officials Monday got next to no information, as there were no members of the intelligence community present.
"One thing we did get out of the briefing is confirmation the administration doesn't plan to comply with the human rights law that says when Congress asks for a finding on the culpability of an individual act, the president has to tell us whether there was a human rights violation or not," he added.
President Donald Trump will not do that when it comes to Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman and whether he was involved in Khashoggi's death, said Murphy.
Murphy said senators at Tuesday's meeting were briefed by two people had "no idea" about what the White House is doing in respect with its relationship with Saudi Arabia.
"I think it's pretty amazing that in the face of this gross violation of human rights, this assault on an American resident, that it's the United States officials that are going to Saudi Arabia," said Murphy, referring to a recent trip there by Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner.