Points of alignment
Here is a sentence Chris Murphy said in 2019, on the record, for free: “The Saudis should be coming to us to apologize for kidnapping a journalist under U.S. protection rather than the world watching us travel there to present a smiling press conference.”
On Monday, Murphy traveled there.
The Connecticut Democrat met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh, per the Saudi Press Agency as carried by Arab News. Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Ambassador Princess Reema bint Bandar, and National Security Adviser Musaed Al-Aiban sat in. The state news agency supplied the photo.
Fox News noticed what was missing from Murphy’s account of the meeting: Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post columnist murdered and dismembered by Saudi operatives inside a Saudi consulate in Turkey in 2018. Fox says it asked his office about that.
What Murphy did mention, in his own words: “points of alignment.”
In 2019 the Saudis were supposed to come to us. In 2026 the senator flew the apology tour to them, minus the apology.
He wrote the receipts himself
Official portrait, Sen. Chris Murphy, U.S. Senate, 2013. Public domain.
You don’t need a Republican oppo file for this one. Murphy’s own website is the oppo file.
On October 16, 2018, two weeks after Khashoggi walked into that consulate, Murphy put out a statement calling Saudi conduct “the actions of a rogue state, not an ally.” He added: “The United States cannot be in a military partnership with a country that has this little concern for human life.”
Two days later on NPR, he said the message to Riyadh should be simple: “if you’re not telling us the truth, we are not going to be in business with you.”
In February 2019 he joined the bipartisan Saudi Arabia Accountability and Yemen Act and promised “there will be no ‘back to normal’ until there is real accountability for the brutal killing of Jamal Khashoggi and, finally, an end to Mohammed bin Salman’s reckless war in Yemen.”
He voted the way he talked. On December 13, 2018, the Senate passed the Yemen war powers resolution he introduced with Bernie Sanders and Mike Lee, 56 to 41, per the Senate roll call. The 2019 version, S.J.Res. 7, cleared both chambers, drew a veto, and the override failed 53 to 45 on May 2, per the override roll call. Murphy voted yea on both.
Then came his one-year anniversary remarks: “There’s been no accountability, no meaningful accountability.” About the secretary of state flying to Riyadh to meet the crown prince after the murder: “I was really saddened.”
Saddened in 2019. Seated in 2026.
Monday in Riyadh
Murphy’s office billed this as a congressional delegation to Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and his press release calls him “the first Democratic Senator to visit the Gulf since the start of the Iran War.” The National News Desk notes that claim was not independently verified, per TNND.
The same release says: “With Democrats on the verge of regaining control in Washington, it’s imperative that we offer a new approach to our policy in the Gulf.” Translation for you: the shadow secretary of state has entered the chat.
After the meeting he told WSHU: “I think it’s important for people to be here who disagree with Saudi Arabia’s policies, to be honest and candid about those disagreements.” Per Fox, he said they discussed Saudi investments in Trump family businesses and that “there’s got to be space for political dialogue and speech here in Saudi Arabia.”
Then the landing: “I’m not saying we came to conclusions.” And: “We are not going to get a permanent end to this war without the Saudis’ help. We’re not going to get a Palestinian state without the Saudis’ help.”
Maybe so. But look at the order of operations. Seven years of “no back to normal” ended with a photo from the state news agency.
The price of corruption is a meeting
President Donald Trump with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Oval Office, Nov. 18, 2025. Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok. Public domain.
This next part is funny the way a root canal is funny.
On May 13, 2025, Murphy gave a Senate floor speech on Trump’s Gulf trip. On Saudi Arabia, he said “the price is also in the billions,” pointing to the $2 billion Saudi investment in Jared Kushner‘s private equity firm. He said the crown prince “overruled the board, undoubtedly seeing the political advantage of investing directly with the Trump family.”
So by Murphy’s own telling, the man across the table Monday is the man who greenlit the Kushner money.
Same speech: “Foreign leaders need to know there will be a price for participating in the corruption of the American presidency.”
Apparently the price is a sit-down with a senator who once called them a rogue state, plus a photo op. That is not a price. That is a loyalty program.
He also promised: “I will personally seek to block any arms sale that is announced as part of this trip with a country that is personally investing in Donald Trump and his family. I will force a full Senate debate and a vote on these sales.”
Hold that thought.
The jets nobody mentioned
On September 17, the State Department notified Congress of a proposed sale to Saudi Arabia of 48 F-35A fighters and 49 engines, worth up to $24.3 billion, per Breaking Defense. Lawmakers have worried for years that it could give China access to sensitive technology, per Politico. Congress gets 30 days to block it.
Murphy saw this coming. In December 2020, fighting F-35s for the UAE, he warned: “Today we may be selling the F-35s and the MQ-9s to the UAE, but the Saudis are going to want it.”
The Saudis wanted it. A Republican, Rand Paul, filed S.J.Res. 217 on September 24 to block it. As of Tuesday evening ET, Congress.gov lists zero cosponsors. We could not find a Murphy statement on the sale, and none of his remarks reported from Riyadh mention it.
Now the fine print, from the Congressional Record. The principal contractors: Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth, Texas, and “Pratt & Whitney Military Engines, located in East Hartford, CT.”
Connecticut. Murphy’s state. His own website hosts a 2019 Connecticut delegation letter noting the F135 engine is “Manufactured at Pratt & Whitney facilities in East Hartford and Middletown” and that the F-35 program “employs over 11,000 Connecticut constituents.”
We are not saying that is why. We are saying it is in the Record, and you are allowed to read.
The red costume: maybe he did, maybe he didn’t
Republicans, sit down. You don’t get to enjoy this from the cheap seats.
On November 20, 2018, Donald Trump issued a statement titled “Standing with Saudi Arabia”. On whether the crown prince knew about the murder: “maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!” He cited $450 billion in Saudi spending and investment, including $110 billion in military purchases, a figure AP noted Washington Post fact checkers had called “fake.” His closer: “Very simply it is called, ‘America First!’”
When Congress passed the Yemen resolution in 2019, Trump vetoed it, per Congress.gov.
Last November, with the crown prince in the Oval Office, a reporter asked about Khashoggi. Trump, per NPR: “things happen, but he knew nothing about it.” Then: “You don’t have to embarrass our guest by asking a question.” The CIA concluded the crown prince approved the operation, NPR notes. Asked about his family’s business ties, Trump said, per CBS News, “they’ve done very little with Saudi Arabia, actually.”
Fifty-four days later, Saudi developer Dar Global announced two Trump-branded projects in Riyadh and Jeddah with a combined value of $10 billion, per Reuters. Eric Trump supplied the timeline. “Very little,” it turns out, is a ten-billion-dollar unit of measure.
Then the son-in-law. Then-Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden‘s 2024 letter to Affinity Partners says Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund committed $2 billion to Kushner’s firm at a 1.25 percent annual fee, and that Affinity had collected $87 million in fees from the Saudi fund while generating no return. In August, PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners closed their buyout of Electronic Arts, per Silver Lake’s announcement. If you play Madden, its publisher now belongs to the Saudi government’s fund, a private equity firm, and the president’s son-in-law.
And then there is Lindsey Graham. In October 2018 he called the crown prince “a wrecking ball,” said “I’m not going back to Saudi Arabia as long as this guy’s in charge,” and vowed to “sanction the hell out of Saudi Arabia,” per Defense News. In April 2023 he told ABC’s This Week he had just met the crown prince in Saudi Arabia, adding that the kingdom bought “$36 billion worth of 787 Boeing jets made in Charleston, South Carolina. I came over here to say thanks.” In 2019, he voted to sustain Trump’s Yemen veto.
At least Graham read the invoice out loud.
We have seen this movie
In Not Personally Profiting, Kushner’s firm held a billion-dollar stake while he played volunteer negotiator. In Temporary Exception: Oil, the Iran war’s bill landed in your gas tank. In Dove Season, politicians who voted to keep that war going discovered peace in a campaign ad. Same pattern every time: the principle is for the press release. The exception is for whoever is across the table.
Both costumes
Fair is fair. Talking to people you disagree with is not a crime. It is often the job. Murphy says he raised the Trump family deals and free speech in the room. His Palestinian-state push is not new, either: in 2023 he co-led a letter from 20 senators calling Saudi Arabia “an authoritarian regime which regularly undermines U.S. interests in the region” while insisting that any Saudi-Israel deal preserve a two-state option. Even in 2018 he told Defense News “There are good reasons to not destroy the relationship,” adding: “But that can’t happen until there is a full accounting of Khashoggi’s disappearance.”
So the question is not whether he may talk. It is what happened to the accounting. He said no back to normal. Monday looked a lot like normal.
The blue costume is a Khashoggi crusader who asked on the Senate floor about “the going rate” for a Gulf country to buy access to Trump, then sat down with the crown prince he says greenlit Kushner’s $2 billion, while Paul’s bid to block a $24.3 billion jet sale with Connecticut-built engines still has zero cosponsors. The red costume is “maybe he did and maybe he didn’t,” “things happen,” a veto, $10 billion in Trump-branded projects, and a senator who flew over to say thanks for the Boeings.
Neither costume ever told you what a journalist’s life is worth. Both know exactly what a fighter jet is worth. You don’t have to pick a costume. Just check who’s holding the receipt.
Receipts
• Fox News, October 5, 2026. Murphy met the crown prince Monday; his “points of alignment,” “conclusions,” and “Saudis’ help” quotes; Trump-family investments and free-speech remarks; no Khashoggi mention; Fox’s request for comment.
• Arab News, October 5, 2026. Saudi Press Agency account of the Riyadh meeting, the photo, and who attended.
• WSHU, October 5, 2026. Murphy’s “honest and candid” quote and the Qatar and Saudi itinerary.
• Murphy press release, October 5, 2026. The CODEL, the “first Democratic Senator” claim, and the “verge of regaining control” line.
• TNND via ABC News 4, October 4, 2026. Arrival October 3; “first Democrat” claim not independently verified.
• Murphy statement, October 16, 2018. “Rogue state, not an ally” and “this little concern for human life.”
• NPR, October 18, 2018. “We are not going to be in business with you.”
• Murphy release, February 8, 2019. The accountability bill and “no ‘back to normal.’”
• Murphy remarks, September 26, 2019. “The Saudis should be coming to us,” “really saddened,” and “no meaningful accountability.”
• Senate roll call 266, December 13, 2018. Yemen resolution passes 56 to 41; Murphy yea.
• Congress.gov, S.J.Res. 7. Passed Senate and House, vetoed, override failed.
• Senate roll call 94, May 2, 2019. Override fails 53 to 45; Murphy yea, Graham nay.
• Murphy floor speech, May 13, 2025. “The price is also in the billions,” the crown prince “overruled the board,” “a price for participating,” and the arms-sale vow.
• Breaking Defense, September 17, 2026. 48 F-35As, 49 engines, up to $24.3 billion, the 30-day review.
• Politico, September 17, 2026. Lawmakers’ China technology concerns.
• Congressional Record, September 24, 2026. The notification and the East Hartford engine contractor.
• Congress.gov, S.J.Res. 217 cosponsors. Paul’s resolution to block the sale, introduced September 24; zero cosponsors as of October 5.
• Murphy floor remarks, December 9, 2020. “The Saudis are going to want it.”
• Connecticut delegation letter, March 6, 2019. F135 engines built in East Hartford and Middletown; 11,000 Connecticut jobs.
• Trump statement via Al Jazeera, November 20, 2018. “Maybe he did and maybe he didn’t,” the $450 billion and $110 billion claims, “America First.”
• AP, November 2018. Fact checkers called the $110 billion figure “fake.”
• NPR, November 18, 2025. “Things happen,” “embarrass our guest,” the CIA finding.
• CBS News, November 18, 2025. “They’ve done very little with Saudi Arabia, actually.”
• Reuters, January 11, 2026. $10 billion in Trump-branded Riyadh and Jeddah projects; Eric Trump’s timeline.
• Senate Finance Committee, Wyden letter, September 24, 2024. PIF’s $2 billion, the 1.25 percent fee, $87 million in Saudi fees, no returns.
• Silver Lake, August 4, 2026. PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity close the EA buyout.
• Defense News, October 16, 2018. Graham’s “wrecking ball” and “not going back” quotes; Murphy’s “good reasons” quote.
• ABC News, This Week transcript, April 16, 2023. Graham met the crown prince; “$36 billion worth of 787 Boeing jets.”
• Murphy-led letter, October 4, 2023. “An authoritarian regime” and the two-state conditions.
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Originally published on Substack.