Amid the evolving U.S. response to the killing of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi, President Donald Trump now admits "obviously there's been deception, and there's been lies" on the part of Saudi Arabia's explanation, The Washington Post reports.
With Saudi Arabia an "incredible ally," President Trump told the Post in a phone interview, and having agreed to buy as much as $110 billion in arms from the U.S., there are lingering questions whether Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) had knowledge of the team of Saudi agents alleged to have murdered Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Turkey.
"Nobody has told me he's responsible — nobody has told me he's not responsible," Trump told the Post. "We haven't reached that point . . . I would love if he wasn't responsible."
Saudi Arabia is claiming Khashoggi, the Post contributing writer, was strangled after a fistfight, but it has not yet acknowledged whether the crown prince, who is now in charge of day-to-day operations of the kingdom, directed or knew of the group that headed to Turkey to interrogate the journalist.
MBS's culpability is particularly concerning to the White House because of the cordial relationship with White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, who is working on the Middle East peace plan and saw MBS as a key player.
"They're two young guys — Jared doesn't know him well or anything — they are just two young people," Trump told the Post. "They are the same age. They like each other, I believe."
As for potential sanctions on Saudi Arabia, President Trump has to balance putting stress on long, successful ties with Saudi Arabia against his own administration's appearance of toughness on human rights abuse, along with the $110 billion arms deal.
"It's the largest order in history," Trump told the Post. "To give that up would hurt us far more than it hurts them. Then all they'll do is go to Russia or go to China. All that's doing is hurting us.
"With that being said, something will take place."
The conflicting stories between Turkey, which has maintaining Khashoggi was murdered and dismembered by the Saudi agents, and Saudi Arabia, which has faced pressure from the U.S. and seen its position evolve, might be solved by what is on the tapes Turkey claims to have, but President Trump has yet to obtain.
"I've heard all about the videos or the tapes," Trump told the Post. "Nobody would get it faster than me. Nobody has been able to show it to me."
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