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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2018
Trump: No penalty
for Saudi prince for
Khashoggi murder
By DEB RIECHMANN
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Pres-
ident Donald Trump declared
Tuesday he would not fur-
ther punish Saudi Arabia for
the murder of U.S.-based col-
umnist Jamal Khashoggi —
making clear in an exclama-
tion-filled statement that the
benefits of good relations with
the kingdom outweigh the pos-
sibility its crown prince ordered
the killing.
The president condemned
the brutal slaying of Khashoggi
inside the Saudi consulate in
Istanbul as a “horrible crime
... that our country does not
condone.”
But he rejected calls by
many in Congress, including
members of his own party, for a
tougher response, and also dis-
missed reports from U.S. intel-
ligence agencies that Crown
Prince Mohammed bin Salman
must have at least known about
such an audacious and intricate
plot.
“It could very well be that
the crown prince had knowl-
edge of this tragic event,” the
president said. “Maybe he did
and maybe he didn’t!”
In many ways, the state-
ment captured Trump’s view
of the world and foreign policy,
grounded in economic neces-
sity. It began with the words
“America First!” followed by
“The world is a very dangerous
place!”
It came after weeks of
debate over whether the pres-
ident would or should come
down hard on the Saudis and
the crown prince in response to
the killing of the Saudi colum-
nist for The Washington Post
who had criticized the royal
family.
The U.S. earlier sanc-
tioned 17 Saudi officials sus-
pected of being responsible for
or complicit in the Oct. 2 kill-
ing, but members of Congress
have called for harsher actions,
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AP Photo/Hasan Jamali
Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi speaks during a press
conference in 2014 in Manama, Bahrain.
including canceling arms sales.
Trump said “foolishly can-
celing these contracts” worth
billions of dollars would only
benefit Russia and China,
which would be next in line
to supply the weapons. Critics
denounced Trump’s statement
saying he ignored human rights
and granted Saudi Arabia a pass
for economic reasons.
Asked by a reporter if he
was saying that human rights
are too expensive to fight for,
he responded, “No, I’m not
saying that at all.” But then he
switched the subject to the “ter-
rorist nation” of Iran rather than
any actions by Saudi Arabia.
The U.S. needs a “counter-
balance” to Iran, “and Israel
needs help, too,” he said. “If we
abandon Saudi Arabia, it would
be a terrible mistake.”
The mistake was Trump’s,
said Republican Sen. Rand
Paul of Kentucky, contending
the administration has “blind-
ers on” in comparing Iran and
Saudi Arabia.
“It’s a sign of weakness
not to stand up to Saudi Ara-
bia,” Paul said in an interview.
“Sometimes when you have
two evils, maybe you don’t sup-
port either side.”
Republican Lindsey Gra-
ham, the South Carolina sena-
tor who is close to Trump, also
disagreed with the president’s
statement, saying America must
not lose its “moral voice” on the
international stage.
“It is not in our national
security interests to look the
other way when it comes to
the brutal murder of Mr. Jamal
Khashoggi,” Graham said.
Likewise, Rep. Adam
Schiff, ranking Democrat on
the House intelligence com-
mittee, said that to suggest that
U.S. silence can be bought with
arms sales “undermines respect
for the office of the presidency,
the credibility of our intelli-
gence community and Ameri-
ca’s standing as a champion of
human rights.”
Trump’s statement, issued
just before he pardoned the
Thanksgiving turkey at the
White House and left for the
long holiday weekend in Flor-
ida, underscored his world view
of putting U.S. interests — both
financial and geopolitical —
above all else.
He told reporters on the
South Lawn that oil prices
would “skyrocket” if the U.S.
broke with the Saudis, and he
was not going to “destroy”
the world’s economy by being
“foolish with Saudi Arabia.”
Asked about any personal
financial involvement, he said:
“Saudi Arabia has nothing to do
with me. What does have to do
with me is putting America first.”
Americans and Canadians are
warned not to eat romaine lettuce
By CANDICE CHOI
Associated Press
NEW YORK — Health
officials in the U.S. and Can-
ada told people Tuesday to stop
eating romaine lettuce because
of a new E. coli outbreak.
The U.S. Food and Drug
Administration said it is work-
ing with officials in Canada on
the outbreak, which has sick-
ened 32 people in 11 states
and 18 people in the Cana-
dian provinces of Ontario and
Quebec.
The strain identified is dif-
ferent than the one linked to
romaine earlier this year but
appears similar to last year’s
outbreak linked to leafy
greens.
FDA Commissioner Scott
Gottlieb said the agency
doesn’t have enough infor-
mation to ask suppliers for a
recall, but he suggested that
supermarkets and restaurants
should withdraw romaine until
the source of the contamina-
tion can be identified. People
are also being advised to throw
out any romaine they have at
home.
The contaminated lettuce is
likely still on the market, Got-
tlieb said. FDA wanted to issue
a warning before people gath-
ered for Thanksgiving meals,
where the potential for expo-
sure could increase.
“We did feel some pressure
to draw conclusions as quickly
as we could,” he said.
In Canada, officials issued
similar warnings to the two
provinces where people were
sickened. They said there was
no evidence to suggest people
in other parts of the country
had been affected.
Most romaine sold this time
of year is grown in California,
Gottlieb said. The romaine let-
tuce linked to the E. coli out-
break earlier this year was
from Yuma, Arizona. Tainted
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AP Photo/Matthew Mead
A Caesar salad with romaine lettuce. Food regulators are
urging Americans not to eat any romaine lettuce because
of a new food poisoning outbreak.
irrigation water appeared to
be the source of that outbreak,
which sickened about 200 peo-
ple and killed five.
The FDA’s blanket warn-
ing in the current outbreak is
broader and more direct than
the ones issued in the earlier
outbreak, said Robert Whita-
ker, chief science officer for
the Produce Marketing Asso-
ciation. In the earlier outbreak,
the warnings about romaine
from Yuma might have been
confusing, he said.
Whitaker said the indus-
try group told members they
should cooperate with the FDA
and stop supplying romaine
lettuce, especially since people
have been told to stop buying
and eating it.
No deaths have been
reported in the current out-
break, but 13 people in the
U.S. and six in Canada have
been hospitalized. The last
reported U.S. illness was on
Oct. 31, while and the most
recent illness in Canada was
early this month.
Tracing the source of con-
taminated lettuce can be diffi-
cult because it’s often repack-
aged by middlemen, said
Sarah Sorscher, deputy direc-
tor of regulatory affairs at the
Center for Science in the Pub-
lic Interest. That can mean the
entire industry becomes impli-
cated in outbreaks, even if not
all products are contaminated.
“One of the problems with
produce is that it can be very
hard to trace back,” she said.
She said washing contami-
nated lettuce won’t ensure that
harmful germs are killed.
Infections from E. coli can
cause symptoms including
severe stomach cramps, diar-
rhea and vomiting. Most peo-
ple recover within a week, but
some illnesses can last longer
and be more severe.
Health officials have also
been reminding people to
properly handle and cook their
Thanksgiving birds amid a
widespread salmonella out-
break linked to raw turkey.
Last week, Hormel recalled
some packages of Jennie-O
ground turkey that regulators
were able to tie to an illness.
But unlike with romaine
lettuce, regulators are not
warning people to avoid tur-
key. Salmonella is not pro-
hibited in raw meat and poul-
try, and the U.S. Department
of Agriculture, which overseas
raw meat, said cooking should
kill any salmonella.
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