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President Donald Trump on Monday speculated that “rogue killers” from inside Saudi Arabia could have been responsible for the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
”I just spoke with the King of Saudi Arabia, who denied any knowledge of what took place with, as he said, his Saudi Arabian citizen,” Trump told reporters on the White House lawn while preparing to depart to view damage from Hurricane Michael. “I’ve asked — and he firmly denied that — I asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to immediately get on a plane, go to Saudi Arabia, go to other places if necessary, which he probably will, he’ll go to Turkey if necessary.”
Khashoggi has been missing for nearly two weeks, after entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul to obtain documents for his upcoming wedding. The journalist, a former insider with the royal family, had been living in the United States for the last year in a form of self-imposed exile, writing pieces critical of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the Washington Post’s opinion section. Turkish officials and police have told reporters that they believe Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate by a hit squad sanctioned by bin Salman.
“We are going to leave nothing uncovered. With that being said, the king denied any knowledge of it. He didn’t really know — I don’t want to get into his mind, but it sounded like it might have been rogue killers, who knows, we’re going to try getting to the bottom of it very soon, but his was a flat denial,” Trump continued.
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