Trump says Saudis will remain a ‘steadfast partner’
President concedes crown prince may have known about killing
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump expressed support for Saudi Arabia on Tuesday even as he conceded the kingdom’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, may have been involved in the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
“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 an eight-paragraph statement laced with exclamation points that opened by declaring, “The world is a very dangerous place!”
“The United States intends to remain a steadfast partner of Saudi Arabia to ensure the interests of our country, Israel and all other partners in the region,” Trump said.
As he left Tuesday afternoon for Florida, Trump said abandoning Saudi Arabia “would be a terrible mistake” and touted the regime’s promise to purchase billions of dollars in U.S.made weapons.
“We’re not going to give up hundreds of billions of dollars,” he said. Experts, such as Jonathan Caverley with the Naval War College, said Trump exaggerated possible arms sales deals to the regime.
Critics said Trump’s statement lets the Saudi government off the hook for the brutal killing of an American resident and sends an ominous signal to other dictatorships around the world that they have carte blanche to commit human rights abuses. They slammed the president for questioning the CIA’s reported conclusion that Salman ordered Khashoggi’s murder.
“President Trump’s habit of siding with murderous foreign dictators over American intelligence professionals is a stain on our democracy that undermines the American ideal,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., a member of the Foreign Relations Committee. “Congress must now stand up with bipartisan resolve to condemn the brutal slaying of Jamal Khashoggi and pass legislation to respond to this and other Saudi crimes.”
The publisher of The Washington Post, Fred Ryan, accused the president of “putting personal relationships and commercial interests above American interest in his desire to continue to do business as usual with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia.”
Trump hinted at the CIA’s assessment of Salman’s role in Khashoggi’s murder, but he highlighted the royal family’s denials and its portrayal of Khashoggi as a dangerous Islamist – a characterization the journalist’s family flatly denied.
“Representatives of Saudi Arabia say that Jamal Khashoggi was an ‘enemy of the state’ and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, but my decision is in no way based on that,” Trump said. “King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman vigorously deny any knowledge of the planning or execution of the murder of Mr. Khashoggi.”
The Senate could vote as early as next week on legislation that would force the Trump administration to withdraw all U.S. military support for the Saudi-led bombing campaign in Yemen. It’s not clear whether such a measure could pass, but lawmakers are considering a range of other proposals in response to Khashoggi’s killing.