TRUMP SAID IT ‘CERTAINLY LOOKS’ AS THOUGH SAUDI JOURNALIST JAMAL KHASHOGGI IS DEAD, AND HE THREATENED ‘VERY SEVERE’ CONSEQUENCES IF THE SAUDIS ARE FOUND TO HAVE MURDERED HIM.

Saudi rulers may pin blame on adviser to prince

• President Donald Trump said Thursday it “certainly looks” as though Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi is dead, and he threatened “very severe” consequences if the Saudis are found to have murdered him.

Meanwhile the New York Times reported that the Saudi rulers were going to pin blame for Khashoggi’s death on Gen. Ahmed al-Assiri, a high-ranking adviser to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Blaming Assiri would provide an explanation for the killing and deflect blame from the crown prince, the paper said, citing three people with knowledge of the Saudi plan.

On Thursday, the U.S. appeared to toughen its response to Khashoggi’s disappearance with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin pulling out of a major Saudi investment conference amid global pressure.

However, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also said the kingdom should be given more time to investigate before the U.S. laid any blame or considered action.

Trump, who has insisted that more facts must be known before making assumptions about Khashoggi, did not say on what he based his statement on the writer’s demise two weeks ago.

He commented as he left Joint Base Andrews for a political trip to Montana.

Asked if Khashoggi was dead, he said, “It certainly looks that way. … Very sad.”

While Turkish officials have accused Saudi Arabia of the murder in Istanbul of Khashoggi, a U.S.-based writer who has been critical of Saudi leaders, Trump has cautioned against a rush to judgment against an important Mideast ally.

And Pompeo, just back from talks with Saudi and Turkish leaders, said earlier Thursday that the U.S. needed more facts before deciding “how, or if ” to respond.

Turkish reports say Khashoggi was brutally murdered and dismembered inside the Saudi Consulate by members of an assassination squad with ties to Crown Prince Mohammed.

A member of the crown prince’s entourage during several trips abroad walked into the Saudi Consulate just before Khashoggi vanished, a surveillance photo leaked Thursday shows.

The man, identified by Turkish officials as Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, has been photographed in the background of Prince Mohammed’s trips to the U.S., France and Spain this year.

The Saudis have dismissed those reports as baseless but have yet to explain what happened to Khashoggi, who was seen on video entering the consulate but has not been seen since.

Trump has rejected accusations that his reluctance to act is providing cover for the Saudis.