Trump says U.S. will work to solve mystery

accusations that they are responsible for Mr. Khashoggi’s disappearance “baseless.” Widely broadcast video shows the 59year-old writer and Washington Post contributor entering the consulate on Tuesday of last week, but there is none showing him leaving.

Both Turkey and Saudi Arabia are important U.S. allies in the region. Mr. Trump said Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin will evaluate whether to attend a Saudi investor conference later this month. Mr. Mnuchin had indicated earlier Friday he still planned to attend.

On Thursday, Mr. Trump had said U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia were “excellent” and he was reluctant to scuttle highly lucrative U.S. 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.

Mr. Khashoggi’s fiancee said Friday in an interview with The Associated Press that he 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,” Hatice Cengiz told the AP.

Citing anonymous sources, the Post reported Friday that Turkey’s government has told U.S. officials it has audio and video proof that Mr. Khashoggi was killed and dismembered. The AP has not been able to confirm that report.

Saudi Arabia says Mr. Khashoggi left the consulate. He hasn’t been seen since, though his fiancee was waiting outside.

A delegation from Saudi Arabia arrived in Turkey on Friday as part of an investigation into the writer’s disappearance. In a statement posted on Twitter, the Saudis welcomed the joint effort and said the kingdom was keen “to sustain the security and safety of its citizenry, wherever they might happen to be.”

Ms. Cengiz said she and the journalist would have been married this week and had planned a life together split between Istanbul and the United States, where Mr. Khashoggi had been living in self-imposed exile since last year.

She had earlier appealed for help to Mr. Trump, who this week said he would invite her to the White House.

Ms. Cengiz didn’t respond to a question about that, but earlier on Friday she urged Mr. Trump on Twitter to use his clout to find out what happened.

“What about Jamal Khashoggi?” she wrote in response to a tweet by Mr. Trump in which he said he had been “working very hard” to free an American evangelical pastor who has been held for two years in Turkey. Andrew Brunson was released late Friday.

Mr. 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, Mr. Khashoggi has written 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.