The CIA will speak with President Trump today regarding possible Saudi royal involvement in the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the president said.
When asked if there would be consequences for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, Trump told reporters that he is still being told that the crown prince was not involved in Khashoggi’s murder.
“The CIA will be speaking to me today,” Trump said to the press Saturday morning as he was leaving for California, where he will meet with Gov. Jerry Brown and Gov.-elect Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom about the ongoing wildfires. “As of this moment, we were told that he did not play a role. We’re gonna have to find out what they say.”
Khashoggi disappeared Oct. 2 when he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul for a scheduled meeting to obtain the paperwork to marry his Turkish fiancee.
Over the past few weeks, 11 people have been charged by Saudi prosecutors with being involved in the plot to murder Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of his home country, Saudi Arabia. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for five of the 11 charged.
Riyadh maintains that they had nothing to do with the murder of the green-card-holding resident of Virginia, and the Trump administration has not taken a stance on whether or not it believes the Saudi crown prince was behind the murder.
Saudi prosecutors told reporters that Khashoggi was injected with a lethal dose of a sedative, and his body was dismembered and delivered to a local collaborator in the murder.
