Trump accuses Saudis of ‘deception;’ bipartisan chorus calls for punishment
WASHINGTON — Members of Congress from both parties made clear Sunday that they wanted to see Saudi Arabia punished for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as President Donald Trump shifted his tone again on the issue and joined the lawmakers in expressing doubt about the Saudi government’s account of the death.
“Obviously, there’s been deception and there’s been lies,” Trump said in a telephone interview late Saturday with The Washington Post. “Their stories are all over the place.”
The president’s response to the Saudi accounts has likewise changed from day to day. Speaking to The New York Times on Thursday, Trump said he was confident in the intelligence reports about the episode, which paint a strong, if circumstantial, case that Khashoggi’s
killing was ordered by the Saudi royal court.
On Friday evening, after the Saudis, more than two weeks after Khashoggi’s death, said he had been accidentally killed during a fistfight with Saudi operatives in Istanbul, Trump was asked whether he found it credible. “I do,” he said.
Lawmakers, several of whom had been briefed on the U.S. intelligence, immediately rejected the Saudi
account as lacking credibility. Allies of Trump such as Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Rep. Peter T. King, R-N.Y., expressed some of the most scathing criticism.
In his interview with The Post, Trump reiterated his view that Saudi Arabia is an important ally of the United States, and praised Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as a strong leader “who can keep things under check.” He added, “I mean that in
a positive way.”
Trump said he did not know if Crown Prince Mohammed had ordered the killing of Khashoggi.
“Nobody has told me he’s responsible. Nobody has told me he’s not responsible,” Trump said. “We haven’t reached that point. I haven’t heard either way.”
Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., who leads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and other Republicans were less equivocal Sunday. Corker said that while he was waiting for the conclusions of U.S. intelligence agencies before making a final judgment, he believed Prince Mohammed was behind the killing.
“They’ve lost all credibility as it relates to explaining what has happened,” he said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I can understand the president wanting to keep open channels, but I think those of us who want to speak directly to this know that it’s just not credible.”