U.S. President Donald Trump
U.S. President Donald Trump said in an interview that aired on Sunday the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was "very vicious" but that he wants to stick with Saudi Arabia as a close ally in the Middle East.
Under pressure to punish Saudi Arabia for Khashoggi's death inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, Trump questioned the alleged role of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is known as MbS and is the kingdom's de facto ruler.
"He told me that he had nothing to do with it," Trump said in an interview with "Fox News Sunday", adding that "many people" also said the crown prince had no knowledge of the killing.
The interview was taped on Friday, hours before government sources said the CIA had briefed the Trump administration on the murder and its belief that MbS ordered it.
Trump said on Saturday that the CIA assessment was "very premature" and in the interview that aired on Sunday he said it may never be possible to know who ordered Khashoggi's murder.
U.S. President Donald Trump has no plans to listen to an audiotape of the Oct. 2 killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.“I don’t want to hear the tape, no reason for me to hear the tape,” Trump told Fox News in a pre-recorded interview to be broadcast on Sunday."Because it’s a suffering tape, it’s a terrible tape. ... I know exactly, I know everything that went on in the tape without having to hear it."About the killing itself, Trump told presenter Chris Wallace: “It was very violent, very vicious and terrible.”The CIA has concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing of Khashoggi, partially based on details from the tape, according to The Washington Post.Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist working for The Washington Post, was killed shortly after he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul Oct. 2.Saudi Arabia had offered shifting explanations for Khashoggi's disappearance before suggesting he was killed during a botched rendition operation by rogue agents.
US president refuses to hear Khashoggi death tape
"Well, will anybody really know?" he said.
"He did have certainly people that were reasonably close to him and close to him that were probably involved ... But at the same time we do have an ally and I want to stick with an ally that in many ways has been very good."
Trump faces intense pressure from senior Democratic and Republican lawmakers to take tougher action against Saudi Arabia. Some have said the United States should suspend arms sales to the kingdom and drop his support for MbS, but Trump has so far resisted that pressure.
An Egyptian woman has come forward claiming to be the wife of slain Saudi Journalist Jamal Khashoggi whom he had married in a secret Islamic ceremony. The religious ceremony reportedly took place in the United States in June this year, months before Khashoggi was killed at the Consulate of Saudi Arabia in Turkey while seeking papers needed to marry his Turkish fiancée Hatice Cengiz. Speaking to the Washington Post, the woman, 50, requested to be identified by her first initial and last name, H. Atr, citing concern for her security and her job. Khashoggi, a frequent contributor to The Washington Post, was killed Oct. 2 inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.Members of Khashoggi’s family declined to comment on the marriage. His Turkish fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, told WP during a telephone interview that she was not aware of Khashoggi’s relationship with Atr and questioned her motives.Khashoggi’s body may have been smuggled out in suitcases: Turkey’s DefMin“Jamal never told me about this woman,” Cengiz said. “Why is she trying to change the picture people have of Jamal? What does she want? . . . I suspect that this is an attempt to discredit him and hurt his reputation.”In an interview, Atr said she was coming forward to reveal her relationship with Khashoggi because “as a Muslim wife, I want my full right and to be recognized.” The woman said she handed over photos and other evidence to a Saudi consulate in the Middle East and that she last saw Khashoggi in September. A number of accounts pertaining to supporters of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman shared photos of Atr with Khashoggi in a bid to smear him.If she can prove that she was the slain journalist’s legitimate wife, she would be able to lay a claim to part of any compensation that Riyadh would offer Khashoggi’s family.After weeks of denying any involvement in the crime, Saudi Arabia later admitted that Khashoggi had been killed inside the consulate but claimed the Saudi royal family had no prior knowledge of any plot to murder the journalist.Dahlan ‘cover-up team’ from Lebanon helps hide traces of Khashoggi murderAccording to reports, Turkish investigators found traces of "hydrofluoric acid and other chemicals" inside a well at the Saudi consul general's home in Istanbul, suggesting Khashoggi’s body was dissolved in acid and other chemicals.On Thursday, Saudi Arabia’s chief prosecutor’s office announced it had charged 11 out of 21 suspects in relation to the murder, seeking the death penalty for five of the suspects.The CIA believes Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing of Khashoggi, sources familiar with the matter said on Friday, complicating President Donald Trump's efforts to preserve ties with a key U.S. ally.The sources said the CIA had briefed other parts of the U.S. government, including Congress, on its assessment, which contradicts Saudi government assertions that Prince Mohammed was not involved.Khashoggi’s body injected with clotting agent to ‘leave no blood trace’
Egyptian woman comes forward as Khashoggi’s secret wife
A second team that arrived in Istanbul to help cover-up the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was dispatched by Muhammed Dahlan, UAE Crown Prince Muhammed bin Zayed’s chief hitman in the region, according to newly obtained information about the aftermath of the chilling murder.Khashoggi, a frequent contributor to The Washington Post, was killed on Oct. 2 inside the Consulate of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul.A “cover-up” was put together Dahlan, who is of Palestinian origin, played an active role in assembling a “cover-up team” of four tasked with erasing all traces of the gruesome murder, according to an informed source who spoke to Yeni Şafak daily on the condition of anonymity.The same team dispatched by Dahlan to Istanbul is said to have been behind the assassination of senior Hamas member Mahmood al-Mabhih in 2010, according to Yeni Şafak security sources.Mohammed Dahlan, the former security chief for the Palestinian Authority who is also known as the “hitman” of the Middle East, was the main mediator between the UAE government and an assassination squad in Yemen.Khashoggi’s body may have been smuggled out in suitcases: Turkey’s DefMinThe team, which arrived in Istanbul where they three spent nights, from Lebanon a day before the murder on Oct. 1, had entered the Saudi consulate building on the day of the Khashoggi murder, according to surveillance footage obtained by Turkish officials.According to reports, Turkish investigators found traces of "hydrofluoric acid and other chemicals" inside a well at the Saudi consul general's home in Istanbul, suggesting Khashoggi’s body was dissolved in acid and other chemicals.After weeks of denying any involvement in the crime, Saudi Arabia later admitted that Khashoggi had been killed inside the consulate but claimed the Saudi royal family had no prior knowledge of any plot to murder the journalist.Khashoggi’s body injected with clotting agent to ‘leave no blood trace’CIA believes Saudi crown prince ordered journalist's killingOn Thursday, Saudi Arabia’s chief prosecutor’s office announced it had charged 11 out of 21 suspects in relation to the murder, seeking the death penalty for five of the suspects.The CIA believes Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing of Khashoggi, sources familiar with the matter said on Friday, complicating President Donald Trump's efforts to preserve ties with a key U.S. ally.The sources said the CIA had briefed other parts of the U.S. government, including Congress, on its assessment, which contradicts Saudi government assertions that Prince Mohammed was not involved.
Dahlan ‘cover-up team’ from Lebanon helps hide traces of Khashoggi murder
The U.S. government on Thursday imposed economic sanctions on 17 Saudi officials for their alleged role in the killing, but the sanctions did not target the Saudi government.
Saudi Arabia is a major oil supplier and a close ally of the United States in countering Iranian power in the Middle East.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a close ally of Trump, said on Sunday he had no doubt about MbS' involvement in ordering the murder of Khashoggi.
"They are an important ally but when it comes to the crown prince, he's irrational, he's unhinged and I think he's done a lot of damage to the relationship (between) the United States and Saudi Arabia. And I have no intention of working with him ever again," he said on NBC's "Meet the Press."
Trump said his administration has a taped recording related to the Khashoggi murder, provided by the Turkish government, but that he has not listened to it and does not want to.
"I know everything that went on in the tape without having to hear it," he said. "It was very violent, very vicious and terrible."