Trump defends Saudi crown prince on deal-making US trip
US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Mohammed bin Salman knew nothing about the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents, offering a fierce defence of the visiting Saudi crown prince that contradicted a US intelligence assessment. The controversy over the killing of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and US-based critic of…
US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Mohammed bin Salman knew nothing about the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents, offering a fierce defence of the visiting Saudi crown prince that contradicted a US intelligence assessment.
The controversy over the killing of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and US-based critic of the Saudi leadership, flared again in the Oval Office in front of cameras as the kingdom’s de facto ruler made his first White House visit in more than seven years, seeking to further rehabilitate his global image tarnished by the incident.
Trump later announced that he was designating Saudi Arabia as a major non-Nato ally, and the two sides announced agreements on arms sales, civil nuclear cooperation, artificial intelligence and critical minerals.
US intelligence agencies concluded that Salman approved the capture or killing of Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The crown prince denied ordering the operation but acknowledged responsibility as the kingdom’s de facto ruler.
“A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you like him or didn’t like him,” Trump told reporters, with Salman sitting beside him. “Things happened, but he knew nothing about it, and we can leave it at that.”
