An Oregon senator demanded to know on Friday what President Trump’s administration is planning to do about the United States’ relationship with Saudi Arabia after it emerged the country may have helped one of their citizens flee a week before his trial.
Ron Wyden said in a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the acting attorney general, Matthew Whitaker, Friday that the new theory from authorities Abdulrahman Semeer Noorah, 21, used an illicit passport to jet home on a private jet provided by the Saudi consulate should be reason to push forward with action.
Noorah is believed to have taken off in June 2017, 10 months after mowing down and killing Fallon Smart, 15, in Portland, and more than a year before the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia denied knowing anything about the murder of a dissident journalist – to the disbelief of many.
Oregon senator Ron Wyden (right) has asked what Donald Trump’s administration will do after Saudi Arabia allegedly helped one of their citizen’s flee the US on a private jet
Abdulrahman Sameer Noorah, 21, escaped two weeks before he was due to stand trial for the manslaughter of Fallon Smart (left)
‘These are shocking claims in any event, but with the barbaric murder of US resident Jamal Khashoggi, they suggest a brazen pattern of disregard for the law and abuse of diplomatic privileges,’ Wyden wrote.
‘If they are accurate, they would require significant restrictions on Saudi Arabia’s diplomatic privileges and call into question the future of America’s bilateral relationship with the Saudis.’
The Saudi government recently confirmed to US Marshals this July that Noorah had returned to Saudi Arabia by June 17, 2017, just seven days after he went missing.
Officials said they were doing everything they can to get Noorah back to the United States.
Wyden continued: ‘Since the U.S. does not have an extradition treaty with Saudi Arabia, what steps is the Trump administration taking to ensure Mr. Noorah is accountable for the death of Ms. Smart?’
He wanted a response from the State and Justice Departments by the end of January.
The CIA said Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman may have ordered Khashoggi’s killing. Wyden addressed the ‘barbaric murder’ in his letter
He wanted a response from the State and Justice Departments by the end of January
Wyden penned the letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the acting attorney general, Matthew Whitaker
It came after the furious stepmom of Smart questioned Noorah’s bail deputy’s involvement in his disappearance.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia posted $100,000 bail – the 10 percent of Noorah’s $1million required to release him for the manslaughter charges of Smart, who was hit by his gold Lexus when he illegally swerved around stopped traffic letting the teenager cross the road in August 2016.
He was given permission from his bail release supervisor, Deputy Kari Kolberg, to study at college the afternoon he vanished.
Reports say Kolberg only learned of his disappearance after returning from a weekend trip where she didn’t have cell phone service.
Officials believe Abdulrahman Sameer Noorah fled the US on a private jet with help from the Saudi consulate last year after being given permission to leave his home by his bail release supervisor. He was accused of manslaughter for the death of Fallon Smart, 15
Her family didn’t want Noorah to get bail for fear he would flee the country which he later did
Noorah has denied the manslaughter of the 15-year-old.
The Portland Community College man is believed to have packed a bag, was picked up by a private black GMC Yukon XL car that drove him two miles to a sand-and-gravel yard, then he cut off the tracking device on his ankle before beginning his journey back home.
Investigators used sniffer dogs to search a nearby park and the location where Noorah’s monitor was eventually found. Then surveillance footage of the vehicle he’s believed to have escaped in corroborated the story according to a GPS log.
Noorah skipped bail in Portland, Oregon after the Saudi consulate bond in 2016.
Despite the luxurious transport home, and generous bond posted by his consulate, it doesn’t appear that Noorah’s parents are influential.
His mother is a kindergarten teacher, and his father owns a trailer business, according to a report by his Deputy Kolberg, Willamette Week reports.
He denied manslaughter despite admitting being behind the wheel at the time
The Saudi Arabian embassy posted his bail in 2016 and he was placed under house arrest
However, Saudi Arabia often posts bail for its citizens arrested in the US, including $2million for Ziyad Abid, a Saudi student who was accused of murdering a bar owner in Missouri in 2013, and later that same year, they paid $5million bail for a Saudi princess accused of human trafficking.
In 2012, the Saudi government paid bail for Oregon first-degree rape suspect Ali Hussain Alhamoud, who was also accused of other sex crimes. On the same day he flew back to his country.
In 2015, KSA paid the $100,000 for a male accused of rape in Utah. Monsour Alshammari was later found trying to flee at the US-Mexico border.
Saudi Arabia is also believed to have helped a squad of 15 men leave the country on a private jet the same day journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered at the consulate in Istanbul in October.
The CIA said Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman may have ordered Khashoggi’s killing.
His body was dismembered and has not been returned to his family. Reports have claimed it was dissolved in acid.