President Trump on Tuesday defended his decision not to punish Saudi Arabia or Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman for the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, and said a tougher approach could hurt the economy.
“We are with Saudi Arabia, we are staying with Saudi Arabia,” Trump told reporters on the south lawn of the White House, after issuing a lengthy statement defending Saudi Arabia.
Trump cited U.S. arms sales and global oil prices while addressing reporters, and reiterated his belief that Crown Prince Mohammed may be innocent of ordering the Oct. 2 killing of Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
“The fact is, maybe he did, maybe he didn’t,” Trump said, after being briefed Tuesday on a CIA assessment reportedly finding that the crown prince ordered Khashoggi’s murder, which Turkish authorities say was committed by a bonesaw-equipped, 15-man hit squad with links to Crown Prince Mohammed.
“I’m not going to destroy the world economy, and I’m not going to destroy the economy for our country by being foolish with Saudi Arabia,” Trump told reporters.
“They are buying hundreds of billions of dollars worth of things from this country,” he added. “If I say, ‘We don’t want to take your business’, if I say we’re going to cut it off, they will get the equipment, military equipment and other things from Russia and China. Russia and China would be very, very happy,” he said.
Trump added that Saudi Arabia “has helped me do one thing very importantly: keep oil prices down so that they’re not going to $100 and $150 a barrel. Right now, we have oil prices in great shape.”
In his statement earlier in the day, Trump broadly defended Saudi Arabia, including its conduct in the ongoing Yemeni civil war. Speaking with reporters, he said he had no financial motive in shielding the Saudi government.
“I think the statement was pretty obvious what I said. It’s about ‘America First,'” Trump said. “Saudi Arabia has nothing to do with me. What does have to do with me is putting America first.”
