House Dems to also look into Trump's Saudi relationship

[W]hile in some ways Trump’s latest comments — delivered from his Mar-a-Lago resort on Thursday — reiterate his reprehensible statement from earlier this week, this time Trump went further, both in taking a cavalier stance toward the murder and in casting doubt on the CIA’s reported conclusion. Trump claimed the crown prince “hates” the crime and its coverup “more than I do” — which sounds a lot like exoneration — and characterized the CIA’s conclusions as mere “feelings.”

This raises the questions: What did the intelligence conclude, and is Trump deliberately downplaying it, which would constitute active participation in covering up the truth on the crown prince’s behalf?

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In an interview with me, Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) — the incoming chairman of the House Intelligence Committee — confirmed that the committee will be examining these and other questions related to Trump’s response to the Khashoggi murder and its broader implications.

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“We will certainly want to examine what the intelligence community knows about the murder.”

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Members of Congress will then have a clearer sense of whether Trump is deliberately misrepresenting that conclusion to protect the crown prince, and if so, how audaciously.

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Schiff stressed, however, that the committee would look at much broader questions about the United States’ relationship with Saudi Arabia and about that country’s conduct on other fronts. Schiff vowed a “deep dive on Saudi Arabia” that would also look at “the war in Yemen,” at “how stable is the House of Saud” and how “the kingdom is treating its critics or members of the press generally,” among other things.

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“If members of Congress are able to get a complete briefing on Saudi Arabia” or on other matters, Schiff told me, and this shows “the facts to be at odds with what the president is representing,” then Congress will be “armed with good enough information that it can take action to make sure that our national interests are protected and that we base our policy on the facts.”

  WaPo

And maybe, finally, a rock-solid reason to start impeachment hearings. (Of course, it's also possible that Mueller has enough information for that himself and is holding it until the new House is seated in order to make a recommendation for impeachment to a group who would be willing to follow his recommendation.)

Schiff also said the goal, on this and many other fronts, such as North Korea denuclearization, would be to “provide some accountability if the president is representing evidence that we know to be untrue and putting the country at risk.”

I have a feeling that Schiff already has information from the intelligence community to believe that this is highly likely.

“There are a whole set of potential financial conflicts of interest and emoluments problems that Congress will need to get to the bottom of,” Schiff said. “Certainly if foreign investment in the Trump businesses is guiding U.S. policy in a way that’s antithetical to the country’s interests, we need to find out about it.”

Looking forward to January.  (With some trepidation about what Trump may actually do to avoid the coming reckoning.)

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:  Maybe Adam Schiff has this information.