The president said that his government does not approve the killing of Khashoggi, but intends to remain a “steadfast” ally of Riyadh. He does not intend to also draw a line with lucrative Saudi orders from American arms manufacturers. “If we are so stupid to cancel those contracts, Russia and China would benefit enormously from that.”
Brother crown prince
Khashoggi was assassinated on 2 October in the Saudi consulate in the Turkish metropolis Istanbul when he went to collect documents there for his upcoming marriage with his Turkish fiancée. The Turkish security services soon pointed to Saudi Arabia and in particular crown prince Mohammed bin Salman as the sponsor of the murder. Last week it became known that the CIA also has the Prince in sight. The security service would hold an intercepted telephone conversation between Khashoggi and Khalid bin Salman, the Saudi ambassador to the United States and a brother of the crown prince. The ambassador would have called Khashoggi to tell him that he had to go to the consulate in Istanbul to get documents he needed to marry his Turkish girlfriend. He implored Khashoggi that this was safe.
“It could well be possible that the crown prince had knowledge of the tragic event,” Trump said today. “Maybe he had that, maybe he did not. But having said that, we may never know all the facts about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.”
According to the president, the king and crown prince of Saudi Arabia deny any involvement in the murder.
