Trump Officials Prepare to Bypass Congress to Sell Weapons to Gulf Nations

[EleanorR]

The Trump administration is preparing to circumvent Congress to allow the export to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates of billions of dollars worth 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.

--snip--

Members of Congress ordinarily are given a review period during which they can pass legislation modifying or prohibiting a prospective arms sale. But a provision in the Arms Export Control Act allows the president to bypass congressional review if he deems “an emergency exists which requires the proposed sale in the national security interest of the United States.”

“It sets an incredibly dangerous precedent that future presidents can use to sell weapons without a check from Congress,” Mr. Murphy said in an interview on Thursday. “We have the constitutional duty to declare war and the responsibility to oversee arm sales that contravene our national security interests. If we don’t stand up to this abuse of authority, we will permanently box ourselves out of deciding who we should sell weapons to.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/23/us/politics/trump-saudi-arabia-arms-sales.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

What does Jared get out of this deal?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. What does Jared get out of this deal?

Kickbacks. Bet on it.

[procon]

2. Trump believes he is above the law.

He has become the imperial president, America's first dictator. Republicans must be so proud of what they have unleashed on the world.

[trev]

3. Why is everything an emergency to this administration?

[EleanorR]

4. Crises are a time-tested means of subverting democracy.

An excellent opinion piece in the NYT addresses just this issue.

Crises are a time-tested means of subverting democracy.

From Getúlio Vargas and other better-known dictators in the 1930s to Indira Gandhi and Ferdinand Marcos in the 1970s and on to Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan more recently, autocratic-minded leaders have long used national emergencies — some real, some fabricated — to claim extraordinary powers. One of our greatest concerns about Donald Trump’s presidency has always been that he would exploit (or invent) a crisis in order to justify an abuse of power. Recent events have given this concern new immediacy.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/12/opinion/sunday/trump-national-emergency-wall.html

[spanone]

5. Our dictator dictates.

[Blue_true]

6. Democrats should cut the next budget of the State, Defense and Justice Departments.

Keep cutting those budgets until Trump is defeated in 2020.

[EleanorR]

7. Let's look at how Saudi Arabia treats women

Will kellyanne call them out for not being pro-woman?

But when Hathloul, now 29, was pulled over while driving in neighbouring United Arab Emirates last April before being deported back to Saudi Arabia, the kingdom’s rulers began the latest in a series of increasingly brutal efforts to silence her.

-snip-

Dosari says Hathloul was singled out. “She received the most severe torture while in detention. It shows you the state is really aware of her influence, how she represents a wider vector of society who really relate to her and her aspirations.”

Saud al-Qahtani, the infamous former adviser to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, visited Hathloul in detention to oversee her torture, according to Walid.

“He sat in on one of the sessions. He told her: ‘I’ll kill you, cut you into pieces, throw you in the sewer system. But before that, I’ll rape you,’” Walid said.

Hathloul remains more concerned about the fate of women outside the prison walls than herself, said her brother.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/may/24/what-they-did-to-me-was-so-horrific-brutal-silencing-of-a-saudi-feminist-loujain-al-hathloul