CONGRESS/GUNS/MIDDLE EAST/MIKE POMPEO/SAUDI ARABIA/STATE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Trump administration is preparing to circumvent Congress to allow the export to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates of billions of dollars of munitions that are now on hold, according to current and former American officials and legislators familiar with the plan. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and some political appointees in the State Department are pushing for the administration to invoke an emergency provision that would allow President Trump to prevent Congress from halting the sales, worth about $7 billion. The transactions, which include precision-guided munitions and combat aircraft, would infuriate lawmakers in both parties. They would also further inflame tensions between the United States and Iran, which views Saudi Arabia as its main rival and has been supporting the Houthi rebels in Yemen in their campaign against a Saudi-led military coalition that includes the United Arab Emirates.
–Edward Wong, Catie Edmondson and Eric Schmitt, “Trump Officials Prepare to Bypass Congress to Sell Weapons to Gulf Nations,” The New York Times online, May 23, 2019