FOREIGN AFFAIRS/GOP/MEDIA/SAUDI ARABIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE/TURKEY: “Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker warned the Trump administration on Thursday [10-18-18] that its information ‘clampdown’ on the alleged killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi can’t go on. The Tennessee Republican said in an interview he sought to view recent U.S. intelligence on Monday and Tuesday regarding Khashoggi’s disappearance and likely murder in Turkey this month but was told by U.S. officials that he could not do so. Corker suggested that the administration’s current opaque position on who may have killed Khashoggi and whether Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is responsible may be untenable…Corker, like many senators, said he believes that bin Salman is likely responsible for Khashoggi’s killing, though he concedes he isn’t yet certain. And the Trump administration’s decision to withhold its most recent intelligence from Corker, an occasional Trump critic, underscores the president’s desire to keep close information that could harm the Saudis’ position among members of Congress. But even absent a smoking gun, some Republicans have been direct about bin Salman’s involvement.”
–Burgess Everett, “Corker rails against Trump administration’s intel ‘clampdown’ on Khashoggi,” Politico, October 18, 2018 8:58 pm