Trump criticizes Khashoggi explanation
Saudi story of a brawl clashes with Turkish evidence of torture killing
President Donald Trump strongly criticized Saudi Arabia’s explanation for the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi late Saturday, saying that “obviously there’s been deception and there’s been lies.”
At the same time, Trump defended the oil-rich monarchy as an “incredible ally” and kept open the possibility that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman did not order Saudi agents to kill Khashoggi.
“Nobody has told me he’s responsible. Nobody has told me he’s not responsible. We haven’t reached that point. I haven’t heard either way,” Trump said in a phone interview with The Washington Post.
The kingdom’s claim that Khashoggi was killed after a fistfight escalated inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul was met with a torrent of international skepticism Saturday over how a team of Saudi agents could fly to Istanbul to meet Khashoggi and eventually kill him without the knowledge or consent of the crown prince.
Trump had told reporters Friday that the Saudi explanation was credible, but U.S. officials said he has privately grimaced that his son-in-law Jared Kushner’s close relationship with the crown prince has become a liability and left the White House with no good options.
A spokesperson for Turkey’s ruling party vowed Saturday the government would “uncover what has happened.”
The Saudi explanation — that an argument in the consulate led to a fatal brawl — is at odds with the conclusions of Turkish investigators, who believe Khashoggi was deliberately killed by Saudi agents who had been dispatched to Istanbul for the purpose.
Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributing columnist, was a prominent critic of the Saudi leadership.
“We don’t blame anyone in advance, but we do not consent to this being covered up,” said the ruling-party spokesperson, Omer Celik, according to the Anadolu news agency.
As Saudi Arabia’s closest Arab allies rushed to its defence on Saturday, the results of the Saudi investigation were being greeted with skepticism or derision by others, including several U.S. lawmakers and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
But Turkey’s reaction is being especially closely watched, because Turkish authorities are said to possess evidence, including audio recordings, that could reveal exactly how Khashoggi died.