Vice President Mike Pence said Saturday the U.S. “is determined” to hold anyone involved in the murder of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi accountable.
After it was reported that the CIA had concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was involved in the Saudi journalist’s death, Pence said the White House is committed to upholding justice.
“The murder of Jamal Khashoggi was an atrocity,” Pence said in Papua New Guinea, according to CNN. “It was also an affront to a free and independent press and the United States is determined to hold all of those accountable who are responsible for that murder.”
American intelligence agencies have concluded with a high level of certainty that Crown Prince Mohammed ordered the murder of Saudi critic Khashoggi, a U.S. official familiar with that assessment told the Washington Post last week. The Saudi government, which shares a friendly relationship with the White House, has vehemently denied the claim.
President Trump said Saturday that conclusion was “very premature” but “possible,” adding he would receive a full report Tuesday.
Khashoggi, a permanent U.S. resident, disappeared Oct. 2 when he walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul for a scheduled meeting to obtain paperwork to marry his Turkish fiancee, but did not leave the complex. Over the past few weeks, 11 people have been charged by Saudi prosecutors with being involved in the plot to kill Khashoggi, five of whom face the death penalty. The latest reports indicate Khashoggi’s dismembered body could have been flown out of Turkey in diplomatic bags given they are less scrutinized by security.
Pence was on the southwestern Pacific island of Papua New Guinea to attend a Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
Disagreements between the U.S. and China on trade issues discussed at the meeting meant leaders representing the 21 countries around the Pacific Ocean rim, for the first time, were unable to sign a formal, written declaration at the summit’s conclusion.
[Read more: Lindsey Graham has ‘no intention’ of working with Saudi crown prince after Jamal Khashoggi’s murder]
