Saudi ‘rogue killers’

Trump weighs in on disappearance of journalist at consulate

“ROGUE killers” could be to blame for the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, US President Donald Trump has said, as his Secretary of State headed to Riyadh in an attempt to find out what happened.

Turkish police on Monday searched the Saudi consulate in Istanbul for the first time since Khashoggi, a Saudi national and US resident who became increasingly critical of powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, went missing.

He has not been seen since he walked into the Istanbul consulate to sort out marriage paperwork on October 2.

Turkish officials have said they believe he was killed – a claim Saudi Arabia has denied – with the controversy dealing a huge blow to the kingdom’s image and efforts by its youthful crown prince to showcase a reform drive.

But US media reported on Monday that the kingdom is considering an admission that Khashoggi died after an interrogation that went wrong during an intended abduction.

Mr Trump dispatched Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for what the State Department described as “face-to-face meetings with the Saudi leadership”.

Until now, Riyadh has not allowed Turkish investigators to search the consulate – officially Saudi territory.

The team, which arrived in a motorcade of six cars late on Monday, left the premises in the early hours of Tuesday after an eight-hour search, an AFP correspondent said.

Mr Trump’s comments came after a telephone conversation with King Salman, father of the crown prince, the first such talks since the crisis erupted.

“Just spoke to the King of Saudi Arabia who denies any knowledge of whatever may have happened ‘to our Saudi Arabian citizen’,” Mr Trump tweeted.

“The denial was very, very strong,” Mr Trump later said.

“It sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers. Who knows?”