Trump says Saudi prince not tied to killing

U.S. officials found Mohammed probably approved murdering a journalist in 2018.

- By AAMER MADHANI

PRESIDENT TRUMP speaks to Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia.

(Win McNamee Getty Images)

President Trump on Tuesday dismissed U.S. intelligence findings that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman probably had some culpability in the 2018 killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi as Trump warmly welcomed the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia on his first White House visit in seven years.

The U.S.-Saudi relationship had, for a time, been sent into a tailspin by the operation targeting Khashoggi, a fierce critic of the kingdom.

But seven years later, the dark clouds over the relationship have been cleared away. And Trump is tightening his embrace of the 40-year-old crown prince, who he said is an indispensable player in shaping the Middle East in the decades to come.

Trump in his defense of the crown prince derided Khashoggi as “extremely controversial” and said “a lot of people did not like that gentleman.” Prince Mohammed, for his part, denies involvement in the killing of Khashoggi, who was a Saudi citizen and Virginia resident.

“Whether you like him or did not like him, things happen,” Trump said of the international incident when asked about it by a reporter during an Oval Office appearance with Prince Mohammed. “But [Prince Mohammed] knew nothing about it. And we can leave it at that. You don’t have to embarrass our guest by asking a question like that.”

But U.S. intelligence officials determined that the Saudi crown prince probably approved the killing by Saudi agents of the U.S.-based journalist inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, according to U.S. findings declassified in 2021 at the start of the Biden administration. Trump officials, during his first administration, refused to release the report.

Prince Mohammed said Saudi Arabia “did all the right steps” to investigate Khashoggi’s death.