MOVIN’ ALONG

Senate Advances Resolution to End U.S. Military Involvement in Yemen

Just hours after James Mattis and Mike Pompeo argued against pulling the U.S. out of Yemen.

The Senate on Wednesday advanced a resolution that would end U.S. involvement in Yemen’s bloody civil war, delivering a rebuke to President Donald Trump just hours after Defense Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made the case to senators that the U.S. should continue its military efforts there. All Democrats voted to advance the measure, and 14 Republicans joined them, many of whom said they only voted “yes” in order to kick off a broader debate within the Senate on how to respond to the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who has long backed U.S. efforts to support the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, told The Daily Beast that he voted to advance the proposal because he was upset with the Trump administration’s response to Khashoggi’s killing. “This is BS. I want the CIA to come brief me. This whole process is BS—that you send the State Department, secretary of defense over to talk about the intel on whether or not [Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman] was complicit in the killing,” he said. The Senate is expected to officially kick off debate on the resolution next week, and lawmakers can propose various amendments to the legislation during that period.

—Andrew Desiderio

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