On Capitol Hill, House lawmakers grilled a senior State Department official Wednesday over the Trump administration’s plans to circumvent Congress to sell over $8 billion of precision-guided bombs and other weapons to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates without congressional approval. Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Clarke Cooper defended President Trump’s decision in May to declare a national emergency in order to complete the arms sales, citing a threat from Saudi Arabia’s regional rival, Iran. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Eliot Engel called Trump’s declaration “phony” and an “abuse of the law.” This is Clarke Cooper being questioned by Rhode Island Democratic Congressmember David Cicilline.

Rep. David Cicilline: “The vast majority of the arms the administration wants to sell with respect to this transaction are offensive weapons, correct?”

Assistant Secretary of State Clarke Cooper: “It’s not limited to that. There are sustainment”—

Rep. David Cicilline: “Is it—didn’t say 'limited.' The vast majority are offensive weapons.”

Assistant Secretary of State Clarke Cooper: “There are offensive weapons. There are sustainment packages that are”—

Rep. David Cicilline: “But the vast majority of are offensive. Isn’t that correct, sir?”

Assistant Secretary of State Clarke Cooper: “A number of them are offensive.”

The U.S.-backed war in Yemen has killed thousands of civilians and sparked the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, pushing half of Yemen’s 28 million people to the brink of famine.