Trump ‘briefed on’ tape of Khashoggi’s killing

STICKING WITH ALLY US prez says Saudi crown prince denied any involvement

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump acknowledged for the first time that he has been briefed on the audio recording of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, but has not listened to it.

In an interview to Fox News aired on Sunday, Trump said he was advised not to hear it “because it’s a suffering tape”.

“It’s a terrible tape. I’ve been fully briefed on it, there’s no reason for me to hear it,” Trump said in the interview, which was taped on Friday. “I know everything that went on in the tape without having to hear it.”

He said Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has denied to him perhaps five times any role in the killing and the US may never know whether he was involved.

Trump indicated that he did not want to lose an ally over the murder. “He (the prince) did have certainly people that were reasonably close to him...that were probably involved...but at the same time we do have an ally and I want to stick with an ally that in many ways has been very good.”

In separate remarks on Saturday, Trump said the CIA’S assessment that the prince ordered the murder was “premature” and that he expects a “very full report” on it on Tuesday.

The state department also challenged the CIA’S findings without naming it. Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said, “Recent reports indicating that the US government has made a final conclusion are inaccurate. There remain numerous unan- OCTOBER 2: Jamal Khashoggi enters the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to collect documents ahead of his wedding. When he doesn’t emerge from the embassy, his fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, calls up friends OCTOBER 3: Mohammad bin Salman, Saudi Crown Prince, says Khashoggi had left the consulate "a few minutes or an hour" after he arrived

OCTOBER 6: Turkish officials say Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate

OCTOBER 15: Turkish investigators enter the consulate to conduct a search

OCTOBER 19: Saudi Arabia admits Khashoggi died in the consulate. The country's public prosecutor says he died after an altercation and a fistfight. Saudis say they detained 18 people in connection to the death OCTOBER 21: Saudi Arabia's swered questions with respect to the murder of Mr Khashoggi.”

On Sunday, Turkish defence minister Hulusi Akar was quoted as saying by CNN Turk that the killers of Khashoggi may have taken his dismembered body out of Turkey in luggage.

“One probability is that they foreign minister says Khashoggi was killed in a rogue operation inside the consulate

OCTOBER 31: Turkish prosecutor says Khashoggi was strangled after he entered the consulate, then dismembered

NOVEMBER 2: Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the order to murder Khashoggi left the country three to four hours after committing the murder. They may have taken out Khashoggi’s dismembered corpse inside luggage without facing problems due to their diplomatic immunity,” Akbar said at an international conference in Halifax, Canada. came from the highest levels of the Saudi government NOVEMBER 11: Erdogan lets Saudi Arabia, US, Germany, France and UK listen to tape recordings taken during Khashoggi's killing NOVEMBER 17: CIA reportedly concludes the Saudi crown prince had ordered Khashoggi’s murder.

Turkey has said a group of 15 individuals, including a two-man “clean-up team”, was involved and that Khashoggi’s body had been dismembered.

Turkish officials have also called for an investigation into whether the body was dissolved in acid.