Jamal Khashoggi murder: Trump ‘angry’ but defends Saudi relationship
CNNOsaka, Japan CNN — President Donald Trump said Friday he was “extremely angry and very unhappy” about the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi but claimed that “nobody has directly pointed a finger” at Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, despite the conclusions of the CIA and a United Nations report. “Uh,” Trump said, as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sat frowning next to him, “thank you very much.” And despite Trump’s claim that “nobody has directly pointed a finger” at bin Salman,his own CIA, according to a senior US official and a source familiar with the matter, concluded the Saudi ruler authorized the brutal murder, CNN reported in November 2018. Saudi Arabia’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir told CNN earlier this month that the UN report into the journalist’s killing was “flawed” and denied that Riyadh should accept responsibility for the murder, which he acknowledged was “gruesome.” Riyadh has maintained that neither bin Salman nor King Salman knew of the operation to target Khashoggi. When asked about the CIA’s assessment by US intelligence sources that bin Salman authorized the murder of Khashoggi, according to a senior US official and a source familiar with the matter,Trump said he “cannot comment on intelligence.” “We can declassify … the truth is I don’t want to talk about intelligence,” Trump said.