Trump: CIA didn’t conclude Crown Prince responsible

Says media guilty of ‘false reporting’ on Khashoggi issue

President Donald Trump yesterday disputed that the CIA had “concluded” that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman was responsible for the death of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

“They didn’t conclude,” Trump insisted, when asked about the CIA report speaking to reporters at Mar-a-Lago in Florida. “No no, they didn’t conclude. I’m sorry. No they didn’t conclude. They did not come to a conclusion. They have feelings certain ways. I have the report ... they have not concluded, I don’t know if anyone’s going to be able to conclude the crown prince did it.”

He added, “I will say this: I don’t know, I don’t know. But whether he did or whether he didn’t, he denies it vehemently. His father denies it, the king, vehemently. The CIA doesn’t say they did it, they do point out certain things and in pointing out those things you can conclude that maybe he did or maybe he didn’t.”

Trump said the media were guilty of “false reporting” on the issue, and claimed the CIA had said Crown Prince Bin Salman “might have done it, which is a big difference”.

‘Strong ally’

“We have a very strong ally in Saudi Arabia,” he said, “an ally that said at the very top level, the crown prince, they did not commit this atrocity, and it’s an atrocity, it’s a terrible thing.”

Asked who should be held accountable for Khashoggi’s death if not the Saudis, Trump said: “Maybe the world should be held accountable, because the world’s a very, very vicious place.”

Yesterday, France said it had imposed sanctions, including travel bans, on 18 Saudi citizens linked to the murder, and warned that more could follow.

In Florida, Trump added: “I hate the crime, I hate what’s done, I hate the cover-up. I will tell you this: the crown prince hates it more than I do.”

Meanwhile, Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said Wednesday that the US must balance its concerns about Saudi Arabia’s human rights record with the need to maintain a “strategic relationship” with the Saudis, .

In his first extended comments on last month’s killing, Mattis said that “there has to be accountability for anyone involved in the murder. Yes, I’m calling it murder.”

“We’re not going to apologise for our human rights stance,” he said. “Nor are we going to apologise for working with Saudi Arabia when it’s necessary for the good of innocent people who are in trouble.”

It was in American interests to work with the Saudis to “stop the humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen,” he said.

He also credited the Saudis with assisting in stepped-up US efforts to bring the Taliban and the Afghan government together for reconciliation talks.

Mattis said that Saudi Arabia and the UAE had largely ceased “offensive operations” over the past 72 hours around Hodeida amid a renewed peace push there.