Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) on Wednesday defended national security adviser John Bolton’s decision to not listen to an audio tape that reportedly captures the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
In response to a question from CNN “New Day” host Alisyn Camerota, Lankford said it wouldn’t take human rights violations “off the hook” by not listening to the tape.
{mosads}“Oh no, I don’t think that’s what he’s saying and I certainly don’t think that’s the implication of that,” Lankford said.
Lankford said it would be very difficult to understand what is happening on the tape because of possible “pushing and screaming.”
The senator, who has criticized Saudi Arabia’s behavior, added that Bolton could get a transcript or a readout of the tape.
Lankford said he did not think the administration “so far” had given Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman a pass for any role he played in Khashoggi’s killing. He noted sanctions against other Saudi government officials.
President Trump has signaled he does not want to punish the crown prince severely, saying the de facto Saudi leader’s involvement in the killing is unclear.
The CIA reportedly believes the crown prince ordered the assassination of Khashoggi. Senators are set to be briefed by administration officials on Wednesday, though CIA Director Gina Haspel, who has reportedly listened to the tape of Khashoggi’s killing, will not be present.
Bolton said during a Tuesday briefing with reporters that he didn’t know what he would learn by listening to the tape in Arabic.
“You don’t have access to an interpreter?” a reporter asked.
“Well, you want me to listen to it? What am I going to learn?” Bolton replied. “I mean if they were speaking Korean I wouldn’t learn any more from it either.”
“Well I think an interpreter would be able to tell you what’s going on,” the reporter returned.
“Well then I can read a transcript,” Bolton said.
“I’m just trying to make the point that everybody who says, ‘Why don’t you listen to the tape?’ — unless you speak Arabic, what are you going to get from it?”
Trump said he does not plan to listen to the tape.
“We have the tape. I don’t want to hear the tape. No reason for me to hear the tape,” Trump told Fox News earlier this month. “It’s a terrible tape. I’ve been fully briefed on it. There’s no reason for me to hear it.”