Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) said on Sunday that the United States shouldn't continue "business as usual" with Saudi Arabia after the disappearance of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
Earlier this month, Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident, disappeared after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last week. Turkish officials accuse the Saudis of murdering Khashoggi. They also claim an audio recording captured moments of his "interrogation, torture, and killing," a Turkish newspaper reported. The Saudis have denied the allegations.
CNN's "State of the Union" anchor Jake Tapper asked Rubio what he thought about President Donald Trump saying the incident will not derail U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia.
"I don't think we should continue as business as usual," Rubio said. "As far as arms sales, I would not have said it the way that the president said it. Arms sales are important not just because of the money but also because it also provides leverage over their future behavior. They'll need our spare parts, thye'll ned our training and those are things we can use to influence their behavior. But I would not take cutting that off off the table. Every option needs to be there in a response, because no matter how important they might be to our Iranian strategy, our ability to be a voice for human rights and to go after regimes like Assad, like Putin, like what China does, like what Maduro does in Venezuela—all of that is undermined and compromised if we're not able to confront something as atrocious as what's allegedly happened here."
Some U.S. lawmakers want the Trump administration to take action against the Saudis. Senators from both political parties have called for sanctions against Saudis responsible for Khashoggi's disappearance, and Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) wants a vote on ending arms sales and military aid to Saudi Arabia.
Rubio said he appreciated Trump's threat of punishment to the Saudis if the allegations are true.
"I'm glad he didn't offer any specifics, that's something that should be thought through carefully. But there needs to be a strong response if, in fact, this proves to be true," Rubio said. "If they lured this man into that consulate, went medieval on him and he was killed and chopped up and they sent a death crew down there to kill him and do all this, that would be an outrage. Just because they're an ally in an important mission, which is containing Iranian expansion in the region, cannot allow us to overlook or walk away from that."
Rubio added that he believes that Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin should not attend the economic conference in Saudi Arabia.