Trump backs Saudis
US PRESIDENT Donald Trump has criticised global condemnation of Saudi Arabia over the mystery of missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi, warning of a rush to judgment and echoing the Saudis’ request for patience.
Mr Trump compared the case of Khashoggi, who Turkish officials have said was murdered in the Saudis’ Istanbul consulate, to the allegations of sexual assault levelled against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing.
“I think we have to find out what happened first,” Mr Trump said. “Here we go again with, you know, you’re guilty until proven innocent. I don’t like that. We just went through that with Justice Kavanaugh and he was innocent all the way as far as I’m concerned.”
Mr Trump’s remarks were his most robust defence yet of the Saudis, a US ally he has made central to his Mideast agenda.
They put the President at odds with other key allies and with some leaders in his Re- publican Party who have condemned the Saudi leadership for what they say is an obvious role in the case.
Mr Trump spoke with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. He spoke by phone a day earlier with King Salman, and he said both deny any knowledge of what happened to Khashoggi.
A high-level Turkish official said that police investigators searching the Saudi Consulate had found evidence that Khashoggi was killed there.
Also US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met the king and crown prince in Riyadh and said the Saudis had already started a “serious and credible investigation” and seemed to suggest it could lead to people within the kingdom.
Mr Pompeo noted that the Saudi leaders, while denying knowledge of anything that occurred inside the consulate, had committed to accountability “including for Saudi Arabia’s senior leaders or senior officials”.
Mr Pompeo was heading to Turkey, where officials have accused the Saudis of using a 15-member team to kill Khashoggi inside the consulate.
International leaders and business executives are severing or rethinking ties to the Saudi government.
Khashoggi, 59, a Saudi citizen who was also a resident of the UA, has been a contributor to The Washington Post and a critic of Saudi leaders, especially Crown Prince Mohammed. He went to the consulate on October 2 to get documents for his marriage to a Turkish woman.