Political Quotes

“I rise today to highlight a new rule by the State Department that honors a 15-year-old Portland girl whose life was cut short by a hit-and-run driver in 2016. The girl's name is Fallon Smart, and the man accused of manslaughter in her hit-and-run death was a Saudi national. Subsequent reporting by my hometown paper, The Oregonian, uncovered that the Saudi national likely fled the country with the assistance of the Saudi Government. The paper's reporting later revealed that this Saudi affront to American justice was not--repeat, was not--an isolated example when its nationals face criminal charges in our country. Our paper found 17 cases in the United States and Canada of Saudi nationals who fled justice while facing criminal charges. These cases-- some go back decades--are not for parking tickets. The charges against these Saudi men include rape, manslaughter, and felony hit-and-run. In Oregon alone, journalists identified seven cases of Saudi nationals absconding justice. Their crimes included first-degree manslaughter, unlawful firearm possession, intoxicated driving, third- degree felony assault, and multiple sex crimes including sexual abuse, first-degree rape, and numerous counts of first-degree encouraging child sex abuse. In Montana, two Saudi nationals fled after accusations of sexual assault. In Ohio, two Saudi nationals fled after being accused of third-degree involuntary manslaughter and beating people with weapons at a college bar.…”