{"id":185590,"date":"2021-03-01T17:30:20","date_gmt":"2021-03-01T22:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=185590"},"modified":"2021-03-01T17:30:25","modified_gmt":"2021-03-01T22:30:25","slug":"democrat-senator-mazie-hirono-appears-to-change-tune-on-holding-saudi-arabia-accountable-for-journalists-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrat-senator-mazie-hirono-appears-to-change-tune-on-holding-saudi-arabia-accountable-for-journalists-death\/","title":{"rendered":"Democrat Senator Mazie Hirono Appears To Change Tune On Holding Saudi Arabia Accountable For Journalist\u2019s Death"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">32<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdemocrat-senator-mazie-hirono-appears-to-change-tune-on-holding-saudi-arabia-accountable-for-journalists-death%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=185590&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/MH-1200x800-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, appears to have changed her tune on holding those alleged to have killed Jamal Khashoggi accountable for his murder in 2018.<\/p>\n<p>Only a month after Khashoggi\u2019s death in October 2018, Hirono attacked President Donald Trump, claiming on Twitter that Trump was siding with the \u201cmurderers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDonald Trump yet again ignored our own intelligence community\u2019s assessment in Jamal Khashoggi\u2019s death, choosing to side with Mr. Khashoggi\u2019s murderers. Why?\u201d Hirono tweeted. \u201cHe will ignore even the most basic human rights standards to protect himself &#038; his own interests.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Biden administration declassified a report last week on Khashoggi\u2019s death that alleges Saudi Arabia\u2019s Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman (MBS) \u201capproved\u201d the operation that resulted in his death.<\/p>\n<p>Hirono was asked about the development during an interview on Sunday with ABC News host George Stephanopoulos and she appeared to change her tune on the issue.<\/p>\n<p>Here is the exchange that Hirono had with Stephanopoulos:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><em>STEPHANOPOULOS: I do want to begin with that action against Saudi Arabia. President Biden said his team, as I said, is going to be announcing more actions tomorrow. Should he be doing more to target the crown prince personally<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>HIRONO: He is re-assessing our relationship with Saudi Arabia, which is an ally, and I don\u2019t think the chapter is closed on the outcome of the disclosure of this report. That\u2019s my hope.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>STEPHANOPOULOS: So what would you like to see done?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>HIRONO: I don\u2019t know because, let\u2019s face it, George, it\u2019s a very complicated situation. Saudi Arabia is an ally, and so \u2014 yes, there are calls to do more, and I await the reassessment that Joe Biden is going to engage in, regarding Saudi Arabia, and the pause in arms sales, that I think hits Saudi Arabia, and I think that there will be more. I hope so.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>WATCH:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Mazie Hirono in 2018:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Trump yet again ignored our own intelligence community&#8217;s assessment in Jamal Khashoggi&#8217;s death, choosing to side with Mr. Khashoggi&#8217;s murderers.\u201d<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/u4mS47dnLW\">https:\/\/t.co\/u4mS47dnLW<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Mazie Hirono in 2021:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt&#8217;s a very complicated situation. Saudi Arabia is an ally&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/GxC7VmUQw3\">pic.twitter.com\/GxC7VmUQw3<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 JM Rieger (@RiegerReport) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RiegerReport\/status\/1366431529514196993?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 1, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Hirono was not the only top Democrat to change their tune on the issue as President Joe Biden also has taken a much <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/biden-fearing-saudi-arabia-wont-penalize-mbs-after-he-promised-during-election-that-he-would-hold-saudi-leaders-accountable-reports\">more measured<\/a> approach to the issue versus remarks that he made while on the campaign trail.<\/p>\n<p>During a Democrat primary debate in November 2019, Biden was asked by MSNBC\u2019s Andrea Mitchell if he would hold those responsible for Khashoggi\u2019s death responsible for what happened.<\/p>\n<p>Here is the exchange [<strong>emphasis added<\/strong>]:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><em>MITCHELL: Mr. Vice President, the CIA has concluded that the leader of Saudi Arabia directed the murder of U.S.-based journalist, Jamal Khashoggi. The state department also says the Saudi government is responsible for executing nonviolent offenders and for torture. President Trump has not punished senior Saudi leaders. Would you?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>BIDEN:\u00a0<strong>Yes. And I said it at the time, Khashoggi was in fact murdered and dismembered, and I believe in the order of the Crown Prince.<\/strong>\u00a0And I would make it very clear we were not going to in fact sell more weapons to them, we were going to in fact make them pay the price and make them in fact the pariah that they are. There\u2019s very little social redeeming value in the present government in Saudi Arabia. And I would also, as pointed out, I would end subsidies that we have, end the sale of material to the Saudis \u2014 where they\u2019re going in and murdering children and they\u2019re murdering innocent people, and so they have to be held accountable.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The New York Times reported last week that Biden now is \u201cfearing\u201d the consequences of penalizing MBS.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBiden has decided that the price of directly penalizing Saudi Arabia\u2019s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is too high, according to senior administration officials,\u201d The Times\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/vz0WL#selection-567.4-567.347\">reported<\/a>. \u201cBiden\u2019s aides said that as a practical matter, Prince Mohammed would not be invited to the United States anytime soon, and they denied that they were giving Saudi Arabia a pass, describing series of new actions on lower-level officials intended to penalize elite elements of the Saudi military and impose new deterrents to human rights abuses.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em><span>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a<\/span><\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><em><span>member<\/span><\/em><\/a><em><span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, appears to have changed her tune on holding those alleged to have killed Jamal Khashoggi accountable for his &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2274493,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/MH-1200x800-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Democrat Senator Mazie Hirono Appears To Change Tune On Holding Saudi Arabia Accountable For Journalist\u2019s Death","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-185590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/MH-1200x800-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Democrat Senator Mazie Hirono Appears To Change Tune On Holding Saudi Arabia Accountable For Journalist\u2019s Death","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185590\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2274493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}