Trump: Saudis lying

US President slams regime’s ’deception’ over journalist’s death

SAUDI Arabia’s foreign minister has said the country does not know where murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s body is, amid claims it was rolled up in a rug and smuggled out of the consulate in Istanbul.

Adel al-Jubeir insisted that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was “not aware” of the killing and the regime was still working on finding the body, saying Mr Khashoggi had been killed in a “rogue operation”.

An official had earlier claimed Mr Khashoggi was killed in a chokehold and his body hidden in a rug so that a “co-operator” could dispose of it away from the Saudi consulate.

A member of the 15-man “hit squad” from Saudi Arabia is claimed to have dressed in Mr Khashoggi’s clothes to make it look like he had left the building alive. President Donald Trump yesterday accused the regime of lying and said he was not satisfied with Saudi Arabia’s handling of the matter.

In his strongest intervention yet, Mr Trump said: “Obviously there’s been deception and there’s been lies. Their stories are all over the place.”

It comes as Saudi Arabia faces intense international scepticism over its story about the death of the journalist. Mr al-Jubeir said: “This is a tremendous mistake. This is a terrible tragedy. Our condolences go out to (his family). We feel their pain. He was killed in the consulate. We don’t know in terms of details how. We don’t know where the body is.

“This was an operation that was a rogue operation, this was an operation where individuals ended up exceeding their authorities and responsibilities they had; they made a mistake when they killed Jamal Khashoggi in the consulate and they tried to cover up for it.”

The latest account, provided by an unnamed Saudi official, includes details on how the team threatened Mr Khashoggi with being drugged and kidnapped and then killed him in a chokehold when he resisted.