‘Be like America. Don't be like Saudi Arabia’, US Congressman says in Trump’s impeachment trial

Saudi Arabia’s image has taken such a tumble in Washington that it has now become a subject of ridicule by a US lawmaker.

Democrat Congressman, Ted Lieu, found a moment during his speech at the House to mock the kingdom’s legal system by comparing it to the way President Donald Trump has been trying to deflect scrutiny in his impeachment trial.

“A message to the Republican-led Senate: Be like America. Don’t be like Saudi Arabia,” said Lieu in an attempt to convince Republican lawmakers in the Senate to be impartial and allow witnesses to be heard in the impeachment case, which has now reached a critical phase.

Trump’s legal team, along with Senate Republicans are said to be working aggressively to discount damaging revelations from John Bolton.

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The former national security adviser is a critical witness in the case. His unpublished manuscript contains an account that contradicts Trump’s impeachment defence. The president described Bolton on Twitter as a warmonger who had “begged” for his job, was fired, and then wrote “a nasty & untrue book”.

The attempt to block witnesses in such an important case involving “high crimes and misdemeanours,” drew comparisons with Saudi Arabia and in particular the way in which Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman was able to evade the law over the murder of Saudi Journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Both the UN and American intelligence believe that the future king of Saudi Arabia authorised the assassination.

After using the Saudis to make the point that the US is endangering its impartial and impersonal legal system by caving in to Trump’s demand, Lieu said that the “American people understand that any trial includes witnesses and documents. They deserve to see a full and fair trial in the Senate”.