A group of Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee has called for an investigation into the Trump administration’s decision to invoke a “national security emergency” last month to skip a congressional review process for the sale of $8 billion of weapons to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
In a letter to the State Department’s inspector general Thursday, the group called Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s emergency declaration “dubious” and said it “raises serious questions necessitating further investigation.”
The effort mirrors a similar push by Senate Democrats to halt the sales. Earlier this week the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee formally started the process for the Senate to block the Trump administration from closing on the same set of 22 deals.
“Many of the defense articles included in the 22 cases will not be ready for export for at least a year or more,” the House members wrote. “Yet the [State Department] claimed these weapons were necessary to ’deter further malign influence of Iran’ on an emergency basis.”
Mr. Pompeo last month cited threats from Iran to American interests as reason for the proposed sales to Gulf Arab powers, several of whom — including Saudi Arabia — view Iran as an arch rival.
Critical Democrats cited the brutal Saudi-led military campaign in neighboring Yemen and continuing questions of the role of Saudi leaders in the killing of dissident U.S.-based Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey in October.
• Lauren Toms can be reached at lmeier@washingtontimes.com.
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