Trump vows to discover missing journalist’s fate
US President Donald Trump has declared that the US will uncover the truth about what happened to journalist and US resident Jamal Khashoggi, whose possible murder at Saudi hands after disappearing in Istanbul has captured worldwide attention.
Trump promised personally call Saudi Salman soon about situation in Turkey’’.
‘‘We’re going to find out what happened,’’ he pledged when questioned by reporters in Cincinnati, where he was headlining a political rally.
Khashoggi, a forceful critic of the Saudi government, went missing more than a week ago after entering a Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Turkish officials have said they believe he was murdered there. US officials say they are seeking answers from the Saudi government and are not yet accepting the Turkish government’s conclusions.
The Saudis have called accusations that they are responsible for Khashoggi’s disappearance ‘‘baseless’’.
Widely broadcast video shows the 59-year-old writer and Washington Post contributor entering the consulate last week, but there is none showing him leaving. yesterday to Arabia’s King ‘‘the terrible
Separately, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had spoken with Khashoggi’s fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, the US State Department said. No details of the conversation were released.
Cengiz said yesterday Khashoggi was not nervous when he entered the Saudi consulate to obtain paperwork required for their marriage. ‘‘He said, ‘See you later, my darling’ and went in.’’
Citing anonymous sources, the Post reported that Turkey’s government had told US officials it had audio and video proof that Khashoggi was killed and dismembered. Cengiz said Turkish authorities had not told her about any recordings, and Khashoggi was officially ‘‘still missing’’.
She said investigators were examining his cellphones, which he had left with her.
Saudi Arabia says Khashoggi left the consulate. He has not been seen since, though his fiancee was waiting outside.
Both Turkey and Saudi Arabia are important US allies in the region. Trump said US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin would evaluate whether to attend a Saudi investor conference later this month. Mnuchin had indicated earlier he still planned to attend.
Trump had earlier said US relations with Saudi Arabia were ‘‘excellent’’ and he was reluctant to scuttle highly lucrative US weapons deals with Riyadh. A number of members of Congress have pressed the Trump administration to impose sanctions on the country in response to the Khashoggi affair.
A delegation from Saudi Arabia arrived in Turkey yesterday as part of an investigation into the writer’s disappearance. In a statement on Twitter, the Saudis said the kingdom was keen ‘‘to sustain the security and safety of its citizenry, wherever they might happen to be’’.
Cengiz said she and Khashoggi would have been married this week and had planned a life together split between Istanbul and the US, where he had been living in self-imposed exile since last year.
She had appealed for help to Trump, who earlier this week said he would invite her to the White House. Cengiz didn’t respond yesterday to a question about that, but earlier, she urged Trump on Twitter to use his clout to find out what had happened.
‘‘What about Jamal Khashoggi?’’ she wrote in response to a tweet by Trump in which he said he said he had been ‘‘working very hard’’ to free American evangelical Christian pastor Andrew Brunson, who had been held for two years in Turkey.
Amid growing concern over Khashoggi’s fate, French President Emmanuel Macron said his country wanted to know ‘‘the whole truth’’ about the writer’s disappearance, calling the early details about the case ‘‘very worrying’’.
In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said Berlin was also ‘‘very concerned’’ about the writer’s disappearance and called on Saudi Arabia to ‘‘participate fully’’ in clearing up reports that he had been killed.
Global business leaders have begun reassessing their ties with Saudi Arabia, stoking pressure on the kingdom to explain what happened to Khashoggi.
Khashoggi, who was considered close to the Saudi royal family, had become a critic of the current government and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the 33-year-old heir apparent who has introduced reforms but has shown little tolerance for criticism.
As a contributor to The Washington Post, Khashoggi wrote extensively about Saudi Arabia, including criticism of its war in Yemen, its recent diplomatic spat with Canada, and its arrest of women’s rights activists after the lifting of a ban on women driving. Those policies are all seen as initiatives of the crown prince, who has also presided over a roundup of activists and businessmen.