{"id":2649,"date":"2018-10-21T13:11:37","date_gmt":"2018-10-21T17:11:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/press.nbcnews.com\/?p=2649"},"modified":"2018-10-21T13:11:37","modified_gmt":"2018-10-21T17:11:37","slug":"mtp-exclusive-sen-thom-tillis-says-the-saudis-explanation-of-jamal-khashoggis-killing-is-not-credible-will-be-very-problematic-for-our-relationship-going-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nbcuniversalnewsgroup.com\/nbcnews\/2018\/10\/21\/mtp-exclusive-sen-thom-tillis-says-the-saudis-explanation-of-jamal-khashoggis-killing-is-not-credible-will-be-very-problematic-for-our-relationship-going-forward\/","title":{"rendered":"MTP EXCLUSIVE: SEN. THOM TILLIS SAYS THE SAUDIS\u2019 EXPLANATION OF JAMAL KHASHOGGI\u2019S KILLING IS NOT CREDIBLE; \u201cWILL BE VERY PROBLEMATIC FOR OUR RELATIONSHIP GOING FORWARD\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Dick Durbin: \u201cThe Crown Prince Has His Fingerprints All Over This\u201d; U.S. Needs to \u201cExpel the Saudi Ambassador from the United States\u201d<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

ALSO: Former White House Comms Director Anthony Scaramucci\u2019s First Interview on Book Tour: Gen. John Kelly \u201cHurt the Morale Inside\u201d the White House, \u201cHe’s Hurt the President\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

NEW: NBC News\/WSJ Poll Shows Democrats Hold Nine-Point Advantage for Midterm Elections<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

OCTOBER 21, 2018 \u2013 In an exclusive interview this morning on\u00a0Meet the Press<\/em>,\u00a0Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.)\u00a0<\/strong>told moderator Chuck Todd that the Saudi government\u2019s explanation of the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi is not credible: \u201cYou do not do something of this magnitude without having clearance from the top.\u201d He added, \u201cI think it’ll be very problematic for our relationship going forward.\u201d \u00a0Sen. Tillis said that it looks like the crown prince ordered the killing and \u201cthere has to be a consequence for it\u201d and those \u201cwho committed this horrible act\u201d must be held \u201caccountable.\u201d<\/p>\n

On\u00a0President Trump\u2019s suggestion that he might propose a middle class tax cut before the midterm elections, Sen. Tillis said, \u201cI think that there is a way to rationalize that this tax cut will pay for itself through sustained economic growth. If we don’t make the numbers, it won’t. But if we do, and we’re already seeing it early into this cycle, then I do believe that we create the net incremental revenue. It’s not going to be enough to come anywhere close to retiring our $21 trillion in debt. That’s where we’re going to have to look at tough choices.\u201d\u00a0Watch the full interview.<\/a><\/p>\n

Senate Minority Whip\u00a0Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.)<\/strong>\u00a0also joined the broadcast in an exclusive interview, telling Todd that \u201cthe only person on earth outside of the Saudi kingdom who appears to accept it [the Saudi government\u2019s explanation] is President Donald Trump.\u201d He\u00a0added<\/a>\u00a0that \u201cthe crown prince has his fingerprints all over this and the fact that he is heading up the investigation makes it totally incredible.\u201d \u00a0Durbin also said that the United States needs to \u201cexpel the Saudi Ambassador from the United States until there is a completion of a third party investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the Senate Democrats\u2019 handling of Justice Brett Kavanaugh and its impact on the midterm races, Sen. Durbin said, \u201cWe were dealt cards, in the Senate Judiciary Committee, we never anticipated. The fact that there’d be a letter coming forward from Dr. Ford, which eventually became public, which led to a hearing, which we had not even planned. All of those things were unforeseen. This was not some strategy that was laid out. It unfolded this way. We did the best we could under the circumstances. I still believe that we did the right thing in voting against Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court.\u201d\u00a0Watch the full interview.<\/a><\/p>\n

Former White House communications director\u00a0Anthony Scaramucci\u00a0<\/strong>joined the show\u00a0in his first interview to promote his new book, \u201cTrump, the Blue-Collar President.\u201d \u00a0On Gen. John Kelly, Scaramucci said \u201cthere was a better way to fire me. But he was trying to make a spectacle out of it\u2026he got the spectacle that he wanted.\u201d \u00a0He added President Trump \u201cneeds a chief of staff that really likes him and gets his personality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scaramucci also said that Gen. John Kelly has \u201churt the morale inside the place [White House]. And he’s hurt the president, and he has hissy fits. You know, he left last week after the report that he had with Ambassador Bolton. That’s his personality.\u201d \u00a0Scaramucci told Todd that he now feels \u201cvindicated\u201d because he believes Gen. Kelly is \u201cdemonstrating his personality now the way he really is.\u201d\u00a0Watch the full interview<\/a>.<\/p>\n

New NBC News\/Wall Street Journal poll numbers debuted on this morning\u2019s broadcast showing that two weeks before the 2018 midterm elections,\u00a0Democrats hold a nine-point lead among likely voters over Republicans in congressional preference.\u00a0Read more.<\/a><\/p>\n

CBN News\u2019\u00a0David Brody<\/strong>, The Wall Street Journal\u2019s\u00a0Peggy Noonan<\/strong>, The Washington Post\u2019s\u00a0Eugene<\/strong>\u00a0Robinson<\/strong>\u00a0and NBC News\u2019\u00a0Katy<\/strong>\u00a0Tur<\/strong>\u00a0joined the broadcast\u2019s roundtable<\/a>\u00a0for insight and analysis on the week in politics.<\/p>\n

Read the\u00a0full transcript<\/a>\u00a0of this morning\u2019s\u00a0Meet the Press<\/em>, and follow the show\u00a0on Twitter<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0on Facebook<\/a>\u00a0for the latest.<\/p>\n

PLEASE CREDIT: NBC NEWS\u2019\u00a0<\/strong>MEET THE PRESS WITH CHUCK TODD<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n