Trump says US will stand by Saudi Arabia
He concedes Saudi leader may have been involved in journalist’s murder
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump expressed support for Saudi Arabia on Tuesday even as he conceded that the kingdom’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, may have been involved in the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
“It could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event – maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!” Trump said in an eight-paragraph statement laced with exclamation points that opened by declaring, “The world is a very dangerous place!”
“The United States intends to remain a steadfast partner of Saudi Arabia to ensure the interests of our country, Israel and all other partners in the region,” Trump said.
As he left Tuesday afternoon for Florida, Trump said abandoning Saudi Arabia “would be a terrible mistake” and touted the regime’s promise to purchase billions of dollars’ worth of U.S.-made weapons.
“We’re not going to give up hundreds of billions of dollars,” he said.
Critics said Trump’s statement lets the Saudi government off the hook for the brutal killing of an American resident and sends an ominous signal to other dictatorships around the world that they have carte blanche to commit human rights abuses. They slammed the president for questioning the CIA’s reported conclusion that Salman ordered Khashoggi’s murder.
“President Trump’s habit of siding with murderous foreign dictators over American intelligence professionals is a stain on our democracy that undermines the American ideal,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., a member of the Foreign Relations Committee. “Congress must now stand up with bipartisan resolve to condemn the brutal slaying of Jamal Khashoggi and pass legislation to respond to this and other Saudi crimes.”
The publisher of The Washington Post, Fred Ryan, accused the president of “putting personal relationships and commercial interests above American interest in his desire to continue to do business as usual with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia.”
Trump hinted at the CIA’s assessment of Salman’s role in Khashoggi’s murder, but he highlighted the royal family’s denials and its portrayal of Khashoggi as a dangerous Islamist – a characterization the journalist’s family flatly denied.
“Representatives of Saudi Arabia say that Jamal Khashoggi was an ‘enemy of the state’ and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, but my decision is in no way based on that,” Trump said. “King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman vigorously deny any knowledge of the planning or execution of the murder of Mr. Khashoggi.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo defended Trump’s decision and said it was in America’s national security interests. Pompeo noted that the United States imposed sanctions last week on 17 Saudi individuals in connection with Khashoggi’s killing, and he said the country needs Saudi Arabia’s support in its campaign to isolate Iran.
“It’s a mean, nasty world out there,” Pompeo said when asked about the crown prince, who has rounded up dissidents inside the kingdom and conducted a bloody war in Yemen. “It is the president’s obligation to ensure that we adopt policies that further America’s national security.”
The Senate could vote as early as next week on legislation that would force the Trump administration to withdraw all U.S. military support for the Saudi-led bombing campaign in Yemen. It’s not clear whether such a measure could pass, but lawmakers are considering other proposals in response to Khashoggi’s killing.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a member of the intelligence committee, said Congress should stop U.S. arms sales and other foreign aid to Saudi Arabia and place sanctions on the crown prince.
“Khashoggi, a U.S. resident and columnist for a U.S. newspaper, was killed by agents of the Saudi government in a Saudi Consulate,” she said. “This was a premeditated murder, plain and simple.”
In his statement, Trump accused lawmakers who have pushed for tougher action of being politically motivated. “I understand there are members of Congress who, for political or other reasons, would like to go in a different direction,” Trump said, adding that he would consider “whatever ideas are presented to me” but only if they protect U.S. security.
Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi regime who fled last year to live in the USA, was killed Oct. 2 inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.