Sen. Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican chairing the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told CNNN after a briefing with Haspel that the prince, known as MBS, ordered the murder of the "father of four children", "supervised". He "owns it," Corker told CNN.
"If he (MBS) were to go to a jury, he would be convicted of murder in about 30 minutes," Corker said.
Corker was one of several lawmakers who emerged from a brief briefing with the CIA director who was convinced of the prince's responsibility for killing. The murder has become a lightning rod sharing the White House and a normally supportive Republican-led Senate.
Following the introduction of Reel, the cause of security and disgust will likely hamper the government's efforts to protect both the prince and his relationship with Saudi Arabia, even though legislators continue to divide how he reacts should.
The White House's strong defense in Saudi Arabia is "backfiring right now because it's in conflict with the intelligence services," said Max Boot, Senior Officer of the Council on Foreign Relations and CNN employee.
This split has led to a backlash on Capitol Hill, and now fuels Haspel's request to inform the entire Senate after its meeting with a limited number of lawmakers.
"I have left the meeting with great confidence that my initial confidence is correct," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who is convinced that the prince is responsible for the murder.
The Virginia After invading the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, the resident disappeared. After several weeks of changing statements, the Saudi government finally admitted that his murder was deliberately carried out and executed by a team of government officials, many of them in the prince's inner circle.
Some of these men were sentenced to death. Saudi officials continue to deny the Prince's involvement and blame rogue operators.
The Trump administration has argued that there is no "smoking weapon" that binds the prince to murder, but Corker said Reel presented information to the senators that they did not hear before.
"He murdered him," Corker said. "No question in my mind, I had almost no question before the briefing, I have no question now."
"There is no smoking weapon," Graham said, who then reported that the Saudi team had contracted a forensic expert who arrived with equipment to disperse Khashoggi's body. "There's a smoke saw," Graham said.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defense James Mattis traveled to Capitol Hill last week without a reel to inform Senate deputies about the closed door, in which they emphasized the strategic importance of the Senate's American-Saudi relationship and defended it Government response to Khashoggi's murder.
Pompeo said after the briefing that there was "no direct reporting" that linked the prince to the killing. The CIA concluded that the Crown Prince personally ordered Khashoggi's assassination, according to a high-ranking US official and a source familiar with the case.
Their rationalizations are "lame," said Boot. "I think Pompeo and Mattis will regret serving as an apologist for Saudi Arabia," he said. "One of the government's major mistakes is that they equate MBS with Saudi Arabia," he said, seeming to believe "that the whole relationship depends on MBS."
Aaron David Miller, vice president of nonpartisan Wilson Center, said President Donald Trump's existence of highly personalized diplomacy could stand behind the firm defense of the prince's government.
The White House has "a staunch view that they do not want MBS to be a reformer in their heads," Miller said. "Perhaps, but he has also created a regime that is one of the most repressive and ruthless in Saudi Arabia history" and a "force for instability" in the region.
9659002] Reel did not respond to CNN's questions when she left the meeting on whether the meeting would satisfy the senators' concerns.
It informed about a dozen US Senators, and many said on leaving that all their colleagues can hear the same information. "Absolutely," Senator Richard Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, told CNN. Later, he added in a statement, "Every senator should hear what I heard this afternoon, CIA Director Haspel must inform the entire Senate immediately."
Sen. John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican who did not attend the meeting, said, "The director's decision to meet with some, but not others, congratulations to her, has upset everyone."
The CIA had already concluded with great confidence that the prince was behind the murder, and senators said that Reel had given much more brilliant instruction than the one given to them by Cabinet officials, including new evidence.
"Oh, there was much more information," Durbin said. "I assumed that the Crown Prince was directly responsible or at least complicit, and my feeling was reinforced by the information."
Asked if the prince is responsible for Khashoggi's death, Durbin replied in a word, "Yes."
Kennedy, Graham and Durbin were among those who said the briefing confirmed their determination to act. Graham told CNN that he and a group of two-party parties are working on a bill to attack the kingdom and hope it can be on the ground by Monday.
Legislators are still discussing how to react. Some want to restrict US support for the Saudi Arabia-led war in Yemen or stop selling arms to the kingdom. Others want to directly sanction the prince while others suggest a formal Senate statement that the prince is to blame.
Corker told CNN that the risk that the US would not respond is "what happens over time is that executives around the world think they can be punished with it," that they Punish and kill dissidents.
In November, a bipartite group of senators drafted a bill to ensure congressional oversight over US policy in Yemen, demand a peaceful solution in that country, and demand responsibility for the murder of a journalist.
And last week, the Senate overwhelmingly advanced a joint resolution that would halt US military support for the war of the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen under the resolution of the warring powers.
Graham said the United States should act like a "ton of bricks" against the Saudis, he added, "Saudi Arabia can no longer do business with Saudi Arabia" and "can not support arms sales to Saudi Arabia" if the "crazy" Crown Prince still governs the country.
Some senators stressed the need for a balanced response. "We need to find a way to condemn butchery and murder to the harshest conditions without blowing up the Middle East," said Kennedy of Louisiana. "That's what the Senate needs help with, and I'm open to any suggestions on how to do that."
Miller of the Wilson Center told CNN that "we can maintain a relationship with the Saudis, but we do not have to agree with the Saudis in any case … we need to clarify when our interests and values ​​deviate from theirs and sadly, even tragically, we do not do that now. "
Annie Grayer, Clare Foran, Sarah Mucha, David Siegel and Zach Cohen of CNN contributed to this report.