Dem lawmaker to Saudis: Take your oil and shove it

Rep. Denny Heck (D-Wa.) on Wednesday said he has a “simple message” for Saudi leadership amid the escalating crisis over allegations the kingdom ordered the murder of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi: “Take your oil and shove it.”

“I’ve got a simple message, frankly, for the Saudis,” Heck, a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said on CNN’s “The Situation Room.”

{mosads}”You can take your oil and shove it because human rights aren’t for sale,” he said. “If you want to be a member of the community of civilized nations, then you need to begin behaving in that way. And they simply are not.” 

Rep. Denny Heck: “I’ve got a simple message, frankly, for the Saudis. You can take your oil and shove it because human rights aren’t for sale. If you want to be a member of the community of civilized nations, then you need to begin behaving in that way.” https://t.co/GI6FOio6w6 pic.twitter.com/eKnHCBWUs1

— The Situation Room (@CNNSitRoom) October 17, 2018

Saudi Arabia is the No. 2 supplier of oil to the United States, according to CNN. 

Multiple Democratic lawmakers over the past week have called for the U.S. to punish Saudi Arabia for its possible involvement in Khashoggi’s disappearance. Turkish authorities say Saudi agents killed Khashoggi in Istanbul’s Saudi consulate on Oct. 2. He was last seen walking into the consulate. 

Saudi leadership has denied any involvement in the incident, and President Trump has reiterated their denials multiple times. He told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he felt those calling for the U.S. to cut ties with Saudi Arabia were acting like the country is “guilty until proven innocent.”

“I kind of feel like it’s almost like Opposite Day at the White House,” Heck said on CNN. “The more the evidence mounts that something of a heinous nature was conducted, the stronger their defense of the Saudi Arabian kingdom is.”

The U.S. on Wednesday asked Turkey to hand over rumored recordings of Khashoggi being tortured and murdered.

Heck said he believes Congress should take action against the kingdom through sanctions and by declining to approve any more arms sales to the Saudis. 

“There’s a good case to be made for not approving [arms sales] because of how they were used in the civil war in Yemen and how civilians, including children, have been murdered as a consequence of the arms and bombs that we sold to the Saudis,” Heck said.

“Above and beyond that, in this instance, I think we’ve gotta stop those arms sales and I think that’s what Congress will do,” he added.

Multiple investigations have found that Saudis used U.S.-manufactured weapons against civilians during the bloody war in Yemen. 

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Sunday said the U.S. should withdraw its support from Saudi Arabia in Yemen’s civil war in response to Khashoggi’s alleged death. 

“I think one of the strong things that we can do is not only stop military sales, not only put sanctions on Saudi Arabia, but most importantly, get out of this terrible, terrible war in Yemen led by the Saudis,” Sanders told CNN’s “State of the Union.”