CIA Director Gina Haspel Absent During Hearing On Saudi Arabia, Khashoggi Killing

Gina Haspel , the CIA director who heard audio of the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and helped determine that the Saudi crown prince was likely behind it, was noticeably absent during a Capitol Hill briefing on U.S.-Saudi relations on Wednesday.

Haspel was absent at the request of the White House , Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.) said after the briefing. The White House, however, has denied preventing the senior military official from joining the closed-door briefing to the Senate, The Guardian reports.

The lawmakers met ahead of a vote that would cut off military aid to Saudi Arabia over the war in Yemen.

Durbin said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis decided Haspel could not attend.

Democratic Sen. Durbin says that Sec. Mattis and Sec. Pompeo told Senators in Saudi Arabia-Yemen briefing that CIA Dir. Haspel did not attend \"at the direction of the White House.\" pic.twitter.com/xlvmk08VZV

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Democratic Sen. Durbin says that Sec. Mattis and Sec. Pompeo told Senators in Saudi Arabia-Yemen briefing that CIA Dir. Haspel did not attend "at the direction of the White House." pic.twitter.com/xlvmk08VZV
NBC Politics (@NBCPolitics) November 28, 2018

The most persuasive presence at todays security briefing on the murder of Jamal Khashoggi was the empty chair meant for CIA Director Gina Haspel, Durbin told reporters following the briefing. This White House wont acknowledge [Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salmans ] direct involvement in this crime.

Trump has continued to discredit the CIAs findings and refuses to acknowledge the Saudi government played a role in Khashoggis killing. After the briefing, Pompeo told reporters there is no direct reporting connecting the prince to the journalists death. The CIA assessed that the crown prince most likely directed the murder, but the agency did not make a final conclusion, allowing the White House to use that as an out, administration sources told CNN .

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I cannot recall a briefing on such a sensitive nature where we have been denied intelligence agencies of the United States, Durbin said.