After Jamal Khashoggi was killed last year, Donald Trump brushed aside calls to punish Saudi Arabia for its part in the brutal murder. Now comes word that Trump is about to bypass Congress and sell the Saudis billions in arms. The Washington Post reports:

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo notified lawmakers Friday that President Trump is invoking his emergency authority to sidestep Congress and complete 22 arms deals worth approximately $8 billion that would benefit Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and other countries, despite lawmakers’ objections to the transactions.

Both Republicans and Democrats urged the Trump administration this week not to take the rare step of declaring an emergency to push through arms deals that lawmakers have blocked, including a controversial sale of precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia that some lawmakers fear may be used against civilians in the war-torn country of Yemen.

With this move, the President is destroying the long & productive working relationship on arms sales between Congress & the Executive. The possible consequences of this decision will threaten the U.S. defense industry ability to export arms in an expeditious & responsible manner.

— Senator Bob Menendez (@SenatorMenendez) May 24, 2019

Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) adds:

To state the obvious, there is no new emergency reason to sell bombs to Saudi Arabia to drop in Yemen. The Saudis been dropping the bombs on civilians, so if there is an emergency, it’s a humanitarian emergency caused by the bombs we sell the Saudis.

The Wall Street Journal tried to get reaction from both the U.S. and Saudi governments:

The State Department didn’t respond to requests for comment on the decision and key Republican lawmakers haven’t commented on the move. Several leading Republicans also expressed concerns about the Middle East weapons sales.

Saudi Arabian officials didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.