Trump signals he won’t punish Saudis in Kashoggi killing
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump made it clear on Tuesday that he does not intend to punish Saudi Arabia or Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, an American resident killed by Saudi officials in Turkey in October.
In an unusual official statement replete with exclamation points and disputed claims, Trump cast doubt on the CIA’s reported conclusions that it has a high degree of confidence that the crown prince ordered Khashoggi’s murder and sent his closest allies to Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul to carry it out on Oct. 2.
“Our intelligence agencies continue to assess all information, but it could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event — maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!” Trump said in the written statement released by the White House.
“That being said,” he continued, “we may never know all of the facts surrounding the murder of Mr. Jamal Khashoggi. In any case, our relationship is with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. They have been a great ally in our very important fight against Iran.”
Trump called the murder a “terrible crime” and “one our country does not condone,” while asserting that “the world is a dangerous place” and human rights concerns shouldn’t get in the way of economic relationships. He cited deals he made last year with Saudi Arabia that have been widely discredited as inflated and, in some cases, nonexistent.
The president noted that the United States had sanctioned 17 Saudis for murdering and dismembering Khashoggi, whose body has not been found. Yet his statement was a strong indication that he does not intend to penalize Saudi Arabia generally, or the controversial crown prince. In recent days, Germany announced it would rescind arms sales to Saudi Arabia.
Saudi prosecutors have indicted 11 people in the murder, including a senior intelligence agent. Of those, five were recommended to be executed.
Trump had said he would receive the CIA’s report on Khashoggi’s murder Tuesday, although it’s not clear if that occurred prior to the release of his statement — which oddly began with his nationalist foreign policy slogan, “America First!”
The president, who made his first foreign visit as head of state to Riyadh in May 2017 and has been determined to cultivate a close partnership with the Saudis, began the statement by pointing to Iran as the primary destabilizing force in the Middle East, and called Saudi Arabia “a great ally” in the effort to counter Tehran.
Trump also referenced the Saudi government’s claims that Khashoggi, a Saudi expatriate who was a stubborn critic of the royal family, was an “enemy of the state” and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. “But,” Trump said, “my decision is in no way based on that.”
Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo, speaking later to reporters, echoed Trump and emphasized the importance of U.S. national interests over any other consideration. “It’s a mean, nasty world out there, especially in the Middle East,” Pompeo said.
The administration’s priority, he said, was to “keep Americans safe” and “further American national security” with an “important partner ... vital to American strategy.”
Pompeo declined to comment when asked about the CIA report, saying that “facts will continue to come out” about Khashoggi’s murder. He then abruptly left the briefing room at the State Department.
The secretary of state spoke shortly after meeting there with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. The two discussed the Khashoggi case, Pompeo said.
The Turkish government has pressed for stiffer punishment of Saudi Arabia and claims to have evidence implicating the crown prince, including audio recordings of Khashoggi’s murder shortly after he entered the consulate in Istanbul to get documents he needed to be married.
Turkey has given copies to Western governments, but Trump told Fox News recently that he refused to listen to what he called a “suffering tape” of a “vicious” crime. His CIA director among others has listened to the recording.