Overnight Defense: Pentagon insists Mattis, Trump ‘completely aligned’ on leaving arms treaty | Trump ‘not satisfied’ with Saudi explanation on Khashoggi | Kushner says US still ‘fact-finding’

Happy Monday and welcome to Overnight Defense. I’m Rebecca Kheel, and here’s your nightly guide to the latest developments at the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill and beyond.

THE TOPLINE: A landmark arms control treaty credited with helping end the Cold War appears to be on its last legs after President Trump confirmed over the weekend he is done with it.

Ahead of a campaign rally on Saturday, Trump told reporters he is withdrawing the United States from the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with Russia.

“We’re going to terminate the agreement and we’re going to pull out,” Trump told reporters before a campaign rally in Nevada on Saturday.

What’s the INF Treaty: The treaty bans nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers.

It was signed by then-President Reagan and Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987 and has been credited with eliminating an entire class of missiles that once threatened Europe.

But in 2014, the United States accused Russia of violating the treaty by testing a banned missile. Earlier this year, the United States said Russia further violated the treaty by deploying the missile.

Russia denies the accusation and says it is the United States that is in violation with its missile defense systems in Europe.

In response to Russia’s alleged violation, the United States has been researching a missile that would violate the treaty. The research itself is not a violation.

What’s China got to do with it: In addition to accusing Russia of violating the pact, those who want it scrapped note that China is not a party to it.

Because of that, China is within its rights to build and has built several missiles that would fall under the parameters of the treaty.

With Russia violating the treaty and China unconstrained, the argument goes, that leaves the United States as the only one without the weapons.

Mattis ignored again?: Trump confirmed the United States is withdrawing shortly after Defense Secretary James Mattis indicated he wants to convince Russia to come back into compliance rather than have the United States withdraw.

“Russia must return to compliance with the INF Treaty or the U.S. will need to respond to its cavalier disregard of the treaty’s specific limits,” Mattis said. “The United States is reviewing options in our diplomacy and defense posture to do just that in concert with our allies, as always.”

Still, the Pentagon insisted Monday that Mattis and Trump are “completely aligned” on the issue.

“Secretary Mattis and the president talk a broad range of issues continuously and their position on this particular issue is aligned,” Col. Rob Manning told reporters at the Pentagon.

Russia reaction: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Monday that Russia would take action to restore the balance of military power if the United States starts to develop intermediate-range nuclear weapons.

“This is a question of strategic security. Such measures can make the world more dangerous,” Peskov said.

“It means that the United States is not disguising, but is openly starting to develop these systems in the future, and if these systems are being developed, then actions are necessary from other countries, in this case Russia, to restore balance in this sphere,” Peskov added.

Timing: Trump confirmed his decision just before national security advisor John Bolton headed to Moscow.

Word had leaked before Trump confirmed it himself that Bolton planned to deliver the message directly to Russia that the United States is done with the treaty.

Bolton has long been opposed to the treaty. In 2011, he wrote an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal arguing the United States should withdraw over concerns about China.

Arms control warnings: Arms control groups were, as you might expect, unhappy at Trump’s decision.

“The Trump administration’s decision to withdraw from the landmark Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty is shortsighted and will ultimately undermine the security of the United States and its allies,” Lisbeth Gronlund, co-director of the Global Security Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said in a statement Monday. “The treaty, which resulted in the destruction of 846 US and 1,846 Soviet missiles, helped rachet down the US-Soviet arms race and defuse tensions. Withdrawing from the treaty, conversely, will open the door to a new and unconstrained competition, threatening US-Russian nuclear stability.”

“Trump’s move to blow-up the INF Treaty is [an] unnecessary and self-defeating wrong turn that could lead to an unconstrained and dangerous nuclear arms competition with Russia,” the Arms Control Association said in a news release Sunday.

“By declaring he will leave the INF Treaty, President Trump has shown himself to be a demolition man who has no ability to build real security,” Beatrice Fihn, executive director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, said in a statement Saturday. “Instead, by blowing up nuclear treaties he is taking the US down a trillion dollar road to a new nuclear arms race.”

Support for the decision: Conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation said Trump’s decision on the treaty is the right move.

“The world has changed. In the era of a return to a great power competition, the U.S. is increasingly at a disadvantage vis-à-vis China, who is not similarly constrained by the INF treaty,” Heritage’s Tom Spoehr said in a news release. “If Russia is not going to adhere to the treaty, the risk of the U.S. being the only country in the world constraining itself are too significant.”

 

TRUMP ‘NOT SATISFIED’ ON KHASHOGGI CASE: It’s been 20 days since journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed and three since Saudi Arabia admitted he died in its Istanbul consulate.

With congressional pressure continuing to bear down on Trump to do something, he said Monday he is dissatisfied with the kingdom’s explanation for Khashoggi’s death, even after speaking to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Trump said he has talked with Prince Mohammed since Khashoggi’s death, but urged the kingdom to be more forthcoming about how the journalist was killed.

“I’m not satisfied with what I’ve heard,” Trump told reporters at the White House before leaving for a campaign rally in Texas.

Trump also indicated he would not accept the kingdom’s request to have one month to complete its full investigation into the killing.

“I think that’s a long time,” the president said. “There’s no reason for that much.”

Arms sales still not on the table: Trump also stressed his reluctance to cancel or suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia, claiming without evidence that losing Saudi investments in the U.S. could cost 1 million jobs.

“I don’t want to lose all of that investment that’s being made in our country. I don’t want to lose a million jobs,” Trump said.

Shifting explanation: To recap, first Saudi Arabia insisted Khashoggi left the consulate alive when he went there Oct. 2 to get paperwork for his marriage to his Turkish fiancée.

But on Friday, the Saudi government admitted he was dead. The story now: He died during a physical altercation with officials who sought to bring him back to the kingdom. The officials acted without approval, the Saudis say.

Turkish officials have said Khashoggi was tortured, killed and dismember by a 15-person Saudi hit squad that included a forensic doctor wielding a bone saw.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has promised to reveal in “full nakedness” what happened to Khashoggi on Tuesday.

Kushner speaks: Looming in the background of Trump’s response to the Khashoggi case has been the relationship Jared Kushner, his senior advisor and son-in-law, has fostered with Prince Mohammed.

Kushner hadn’t commented on the issue — until a CNN event Monday.

Kushner said the Trump administration is still in the “fact-finding phase.”

“With regards to the situation in Saudi Arabia, I’d say that right now as an administration we’re more in the fact-finding phase and we’re obviously getting as many facts as we can from the different places and then we’ll determine which facts are credible,” Kushner said during a CNN event.

The president’s son-in-law told CNN’s Van Jones that he has advised the crown prince to “be transparent.”

“This is a very serious accusation, a very serious situation,” Kushner said. He said that he has told Salman “to make sure you’re transparent, to take this very seriously.”

Mnuchin meeting: Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin met Monday with Prince Mohammed in Saudi Arabia amid the ongoing international crisis over Khashoggi’s death.

The Saudi Foreign Ministry tweeted a photo of the two men with a caption touting “the importance of Saudi-US strategic partnership.”

Mnuchin’s spokesman Tony Sayegh in a statement to The Washington Post confirmed the meeting. He said they discussed the Saudi investigation into Khashoggi’s homicide, sanctions against regional power Iran, and combating terrorism financing.

The Treasury Department did not immediately respond to The Hill’s requests for comment.

Mnuchin was scheduled to meet with Middle Eastern leaders in Riyadh to discuss terror financing, but it was not previously reported that he would be meeting with the crown prince.

Read more: Lawmakers, U.S. allies and others continue to grapple with Khashoggi’s death. Here are some more headlines from today:

— Rubio: Khashoggi killing was ‘disrespectful to Trump’

— Germany halts arms sales to Saudi Arabia

— Pelosi: ‘Follow the money’ to understand Trump-Saudi relations

— Graham on Saudi Arabia: ‘I feel completely betrayed’

— Surveillance video captures Saudi operative in Khashoggi’s clothes after journalist’s death: report

 

US WARSHIPS TRANSIT TAIWAN STRAIT: The U.S. Navy sailed two warships through the Strait of Taiwan on Monday in a move sure to rile China amid heightened tensions with Beijing.

The operation was first announced by Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense and then confirmed by the U.S. military.

The USS Antietam, a guided missile cruiser, and the USS Curtis Wilbur, a guided missile destroyer, conducted a “routine” transit through the strait “in accordance with international law,” U.S. Pacific Fleet said.

“The ships’ transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the U.S. commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” spokeswoman Lt. J.G. Rachel McMarr said in a statement. “The U.S. Navy will continue to fly, sail and operate anywhere international law allows.”

Taiwan’s defense ministry said the ships sailed from south to north and that it closely monitored the operation to “maintain the security of the seas and the airspace.”

Why it matters: The strategic Taiwan Strait separates self-governed Taiwan from mainland China, which continues to claim the island as its own. The waterway is seen as a potential chokepoint if China tries to reassert sovereignty over Taiwan by force.

Monday’s operation is the second time the U.S. military has transited the Taiwan Strait this year, up from the typical once-a-year pace the military had set.

After the July operation, Chinese state-run media accused the United States of engaging in a “psychological game.”

The United States officially adheres to the “One China” policy, which maintains that there is one China and that Beijing represents it, but the Trump administration has sought closer ties to Taipei.

 

ICYMI

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— The Hill: Opinion: Improve US counterterrorism efforts by curbing corruption

— The Hill: Opinion: Death of nuclear treaty with Russia could start arms race with China