Boy, Trump really, really, REALLY wants to sell arms to Saudi Arabia. Why?

[jpljr77]

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo notified lawmakers Friday that President Trump is invoking his emergency authority to sidestep Congress and complete 22 arms deals worth approximately $8 billion that would benefit Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and other countries, despite lawmakers’ objections to the transactions.

Both Republicans and Democrats urged the Trump administration this week not to take the rare step of declaring an emergency to push through arms deals that lawmakers have blocked, including a controversial sale of precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia that some lawmakers fear may be used against civilians in the war-torn country of Yemen.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), who had been blocking that sale, said in a statement Friday that in making the move, Trump “failed once again to prioritize our long term national security interests or stand up for human rights, and instead is granting favors to authoritarian countries like Saudi Arabia.”

[link:https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-to-sidestep-congress-to-clear-arms-deals-benefitting-saudi-arabia-uae/2019/05/24/367f4990-7e4d-11e9-a5b3-34f3edf1351e_story.html?utm_term=.821b91a2a72c|

[spanone]

1. Kickbacks

trump is all about profiteering

[kimbutgar]

2. Getting Saudi ready to fight against Iran in war to distract from the Mueller investigation

I predict we’ll be at war just in time for the election and you have to keep a war president in ya know.

[sop]

3. The MIC needs to be fed

[procon]

4. Trump wants a new ME war.

If Congress won't give into him, then he'll find someone who will. He has no morals or ethics so he doesn't care who pulls the trigger. If he can get SA to do his dirty work then that gives him leverage to pressure Congress to aid them and protect allies and US interests in the region with military force.

[FakeNoose]

5. Some how, some way, he's making a shit-ton of money on this deal

Jared Kushner has been working on this deal since Day One, so there must be something in it for him too.

[mr_lebowski]

7. Oh, Kush has already gotten his cut, that's WHY Trump is invoking this authority

How do you think their family property on Park Avenue ... got whole?

I'm sure if this goes through IQ45 will use the same authority to authorize transfer of nuclear tech to build 'power plants' in the Middle East as well.

Almost surely to the benefit of Russian companies, to which TrumpCo owes Hundreds of Million$ as well.

Trump is most certainly personally deeply in debt to our enemies, as well as being the head of a criminal enterprise ...

Congress needs to SUE over this fraudulent bullshit.

[mr_lebowski]

6. There's no possible reasonable/legal justification for this, Congress should SUE (nt)

[FakeNoose]

8. That would be the House of Representatives, am I right?

We don't have a Senate. They checked out about 10 years ago.

[MiniMe]

9. How is this an "emergency"?

[PA Democrat]

10. $$$$$$$$$

Some personal business deal/ loan, no doubt.

[Achilleaze]

11. republican grifters on the make

Making ready for the freaking evil, darkside Armageddon the kristofascists are promoting so manaically.

[lostnfound]

12. The country that gave us the hijackers. Ugh. Nt

[struggle4progress]

13. Massive conflict of interest on Saudi Arabia

By Noah Bookbinder
Noah Bookbinder is executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and a former federal corruption prosecutor.
October 18, 2018

Leaders around the world have called for quick action in response to allegations that Saudi Arabia ordered and carried out the torture and killing of Washington Post contributing columnist and permanent U.S. resident Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey. And yet the president of the United States has defended the Saudi royal family, stressed the need for caution and process, and refused to consider curbing arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

President Trump’s subdued reaction raises the question of why he has, so far, handled the news so differently compared with other world leaders. We cannot help but consider one particular answer: that his approach to Saudi Arabia is influenced by his significant business dealings with that country.

Apparently aware of the growing concerns that conflicts of interest may be affecting his thinking on this crisis, the president tweeted this week that he has “no financial interests in Saudi Arabia.” That may be technically true. While he previously had significant interests in companies set up to potentially develop properties in Saudi Arabia, those companies were shut down when he assumed the presidency.

Crucially, though, he and his businesses have continued to benefit substantially from Saudi customers, including the government of Saudi Arabia. Press reports have indicated that the kingdom of Saudi Arabia has recently paid for rooms and meals at the Trump hotels in Washington and Chicago. In 2017, Saudi lobbyists spent $270,000 to reserve rooms at Trump’s hotel in Washington. The kingdom itself paid $4.5 million in 2001 to purchase a floor of Trump World Tower and continues to pay tens of thousands in annual common charges to Trump businesses for that property (the total of which could be up to $5.7 million since 2001, according to one estimate). In the past year, as bookings fell overall, Trump’s hotels in New York and Chicago reported a significant uptick in bookings from Saudi Arabia. And a major factor in a recent increase in revenue for the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Manhattan was that Saudis accompanying the crown prince during a recent visit stayed there, as The Washington Post has reported ...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2018/10/18/president-trump-has-massive-conflict-interest-saudi-arabia/?utm_term=.126c3326d3ac

[struggle4progress]

14. Saudi government paid for rooms at DC hotel

By Devan Cole, CNN
Updated 5:16 PM ET, Thu December 6, 2018

Washington (CNN)A lobbying firm backed by Saudi Arabia booked hundreds of rooms at the Trump International Hotel in Washington shortly after the 2016 election, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

The firm, Qorvis/MSLGroup, "has long represented the Saudi government in the United States," according to the Post. The group booked nearly 500 nights at the hotel to house US military veterans who were invited to DC to lobby against a law the Saudis opposed, the Post said, citing veterans and organizers of the trips.

"In all, the lobbyists spent more than $270,000 to house six groups of visiting veterans at the Trump hotel, which Trump still owns," the paper said. Although the bill for the rooms was footed by the Saudis, only American veterans stayed in them during trips in December 2016 and January and February 2017, according to the paper ...

https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/06/politics/trump-hotel-saudi-arabia-lobbyists/index.html

[mahatmakanejeeves]

15. It's just like Watergate: follow the money. NT