President Trump issued a bold defense of Saudi Arabia and its leaders on Tuesday, saying Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman may be innocent of ordering the murder of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi.

The president was set to be briefed Tuesday on a CIA assessment that reportedly determined the crown prince ordered the journalist’s Oct. 2 murder in Istanbul. In an unusual White House statement Tuesday afternoon that featured eight exclamation points, Trump wrote, “America First! The world is a very dangerous place!”, before launching into a broad defense of the Saudis.

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