TRUMP THANKS SAUDIS AMID KHASHOGGI BACKLASH

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump publicly thanked Saudi Arabia for plunging oil prices just a day after he was harshly criticized for deciding not to further punish the kingdom for the killing of U.S.-based columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

Trump, who made clear in an exclamation-filled statement on Tuesday that he feels that the benefits of good relations with the kingdom outweigh the possibility its crown prince ordered the killing, tweeted on Wednesday that it’s “Great!” that oil prices are falling.

“Thank you to Saudi Arabia, but let’s go lower!” he wrote from his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla., where he’s spending Thanksgiving. The international crude benchmark has fallen under $65 per barrel from a fouryear high of more than $86 in early October as the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Russia have stepped up output.

The president on Tuesday condemned the brutal slaying of Khashoggi, a Saudi columnist for The Washington Post who had criticized the royal family.

Trump described the brutal slaying of Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul as a “horrible crime ... that our country does not condone.” But he rejected calls by many in Congress, including members of his own party, for a tougher response.