US President Donald Trump yesterday denied covering up for ally Saudi Arabia in the suspected murder of a critical journalist and said he expects to learn the truth about Jamal Khashoggi’s fate within days.
Trump’s comments followed the publication in pro-government Turkish media of allegations purporting to confirm that Khashoggi was not only murdered by Saudi agents in their consulate in Istanbul, but also tortured and dismembered.
“No not at all, I just want to find out what’s happening,” Trump told reporters at the White House when asked if his consistently cautious approach to the scandal amounts to a cover-up. “I’m not giving cover at all.”
The president said he would get a “full report” from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on the diplomat’s return from meetings with Saudi and Turkish leaders, allowing him to assess what really happened.
“We will probably know that by the end of the week,” Trump said.
Khashoggi, a US resident and Washington Post contributor who had been critical of Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman, vanished on October 2 after visiting the Istanbul consulate.
According to latest media reports, the Saudi journalist was assassinated by a squad that included agents tied to Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman.
The controversy has blown a hole in Crown Prince Mohamed’s bid to promote himself as the modern face of Saudi Arabia and led to a spate of cancellations by attendees at a major Riyadh investment conference scheduled next week.
But Trump has slow-pedalled on the possibility of action against Saudi Arabia, at one point suggesting “rogue killers” could be to blame for Khashoggi’s disappearance. 
Earlier yesterday, he told Fox Business that the US relies on the kingdom to fight terrorism.
Trump said he did not want to abandon Saudi Arabia, a close ally, over the Khashoggi case and needed to see evidence to prove Turkish claims that he was killed by Saudi agents.
He also reiterated hopes that Saudi leaders were not involved in his disappearance of Khashoggi, a US resident. “We have asked for it, if it exists ... I’m not sure yet that it exists, probably does, possibly does,” he later told reporters when asked about audio or video evidence.
Pompeo was also tight-lipped after meeting the Saudi leadership in Riyadh, telling journalists he did not want “to talk about any of the facts. They (Saudis) didn’t want to either.”
He said Riyadh should be given a few more days to complete its own probe into Khashoggi’s disappearance. He met Turkey’s president and foreign minister yesterday.
“They’re going to do an investigation, and when the investigation comes out we’ll evaluate it,” Pompeo told reporters travelling with him.
A State Department spokeswoman said Pompeo had not heard any audio recording purporting to indicate Khashoggi was killed.
Pompeo also said the US must be mindful of important business and government ties with Saudi Arabia as it considers any steps once the facts have been determined.
The top US diplomat met Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara yesterday following talks with Saudi Arabia’s king and crown prince about the disappearance of Khashoggi. 
Pompeo said Erdogan made clear during the talks that Saudi officials were co-operating with Turkey’s investigation into the Khashoggi case.
“He made clear that the Saudis had co-operated with the investigation that the Turks are engaged in and that they’re going to share information that they learn with the Saudis as well,” Pompeo told reporters aboard his plane after leaving Turkey.
“There have been a couple of delays but they seemed pretty confident that the Saudis would permit them to do the things they need to do to complete their thorough and complete investigation,” he said.
Meanwhile, there was new political pressure on Trump with nine senators from the opposition Democrats writing to express “significant concerns about conflicts of interest” between Trump and Saudi Arabia concerning deals done through his real estate empire.
The letter cited decades of business deals and asked Trump to provide information regarding recent and future financial ties to Saudi Arabia.




Related Story