Pompeo answered a question about the message sent by Trump’s vetoes of Congress’ disapproval of arms sales for Saudi Arabia and the UAE:

JFC.

Pompeo on whether Trump veto of bills prohibiting arms sales to Saudi sends message to MBS that he’s off the hook for murdering Khashoggi:

“It sends a message to..Saudi Arabia that we’re with them and that we’re going to support them and that they are a good ally”

— Kingston Reif (@KingstonAReif) July 26, 2019

In this case, Pompeo is half-right. Trump’s disgraceful pro-Saudi vetoes do send the Saudis the message that the administration is with them and will support them no matter what they do. The administration is a shameless enabler of Saudi crimes, its willing accomplice in the senseless killing of Yemenis, and its eager defender in whitewashing the crown prince’s outrages. That is what Pompeo is boasting about here. The Secretary of State’s answer seems guaranteed to infuriate members of Congress even more.

The fact that the president has once again had to use his veto to reject the clear preference of a majority of both houses of Congress sends a very different message. It proves that most Americans are not in favor of continued arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and our representatives have repeatedly voted to bring those sales and all support for the Saudi coalition war on Yemen to an end. The American public is not with them. Congress is not with them. All they have to rely on is Trump and his yes-men. The Saudis have bet everything on Trump, and I suspect that is going to turn out to be a bad bet for them.

The message that Trump’s vetoes send is a despicable one, because Saudi Arabia is anything but a “good ally.” The Saudi government is one of the worst in the world, and it is led by a war criminal who is guilty of many more murders than just Khashoggi’s. When Trump and Pompeo made their end-run around Congress to push these arms sales through, they did so with the full knowledge that the weapons the U.S. provides to the kingdom will be used to slaughter innocent people and arm brutal militias and terrorists. Trump and Pompeo aren’t just letting Mohammed bin Salman off the hook for killing Khashoggi. They are doing everything they can to cover for the crown prince on all of his many crimes and abuses.