Trump defers to Congress on Khashoggi response
President Donald Trump said he is passing responsibility to Congress for responding to the killing of Jamal Khashoggi at a Saudi consulate in Istanbul, and he criticised the conflicting accounts from Saudi Arabia afterward as ‘‘one of the worst’’ cover-ups in history.
‘‘In terms of what we ultimately do I’m going to leave it very much – in conjunction with me – up to Congress,’’ Trump said yesterday in the Oval Office. He said he wanted to receive a bipartisan recommendation on penalties.
Secretary of State Michael Pompeo later said the US was moving against individuals it suspected were involved in the killing, without identifying their names or nationalities.
The US is revoking or blocking visas for 21 suspects in the incident, according to State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert.
Pompeo said the US was also reviewing the possibility of sanctions against those people.
‘‘These penalties will not be the last word,’’ he said. ‘‘We’ve learnt a lot over the past few days’’ and hoped to learn a great deal more over the next two to three days.
The crisis over the Khashoggi killing continued for a third week as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan laid out his case for why he believes Khashoggi’s death was premeditated and not the result of an interrogation or interview gone awry.
The same day, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman showed up at a global investment summit in Riyadh that has seen its lustre diminished as details of the killing – and Saudi responsibility – prompted high-profile leaders to skip the gathering.
Trump offered some additional criticism of the October 2 killing and Saudi Arabia’s response to it, saying that it was ‘‘a very bad original concept’’.
‘‘It was carried out poorly,’’ Trump said. ‘‘And the cover-up was one of the worst in the history of cover-ups.’’
Trump said of the attack on Khashoggi that ‘‘whoever thought of that idea, I think, is in big trouble’’.
And in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Trump, asked about Prince Mohammed’s possible involvement in the killing, said, ‘‘he’s running things and so if anybody were going to be, it would be him’’.
Saudi Arabia has most recently said Khashoggi, a prominent critic of the crown prince, was killed after a discussion at the consulate erupted into a brawl. That account has been questioned by world leaders, and Turkish officials have leaked accounts of audio recordings indicating the journalist was ambushed, beaten, killed and his body dismembered.
Trump said CIA Director Gina Haspel and other US officials looking into the killing should return from the region this week. Trump said later that he would meet officials involved in the inquiry today.
Republicans and Democrats in Congress have both expressed deep scepticism about the Saudi explanation. Some lawmakers have called for stiff penalties on Saudi Arabia, but Congress is out of session to campaign for the November 6 elections and won’t return until the middle of next month.
Trump had previously called Saudi versions credible and sent conflicting signals on how the US should respond, last week calling the journalist’s killing ‘‘very bad’’ but repeatedly emphasising that he didn’t want to endanger US arms sales to Saudi Arabia, Saudi investment in the US or the US alliance with the kingdom.
He repeated yesterday that it would be ‘‘foolish’’ to impede arms deals or investment flows.