President Trump insisted he is standing by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, even though the CIA has concluded the prince ordered the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi and senators have pressured the president to condemn him.
“He’s the leader of Saudi Arabia. They’ve been a very good ally,” Trump told Reuters Tuesday evening. Pressed on whether standing by the kingdom of Saudi Arabia also meant his was standing by the crown prince, the president replied: “Well, at this moment, it certainly does.”
[Related: GOP senators think Saudi’s crown prince is guilty of Khashoggi murder after CIA briefing]
The president reportedly refused to comment on whether or not he thought the crown prince was responsible for the murder. The CIA’s assessment puts the crown prince behind Khashoggi’s killing.
The comments from the president Tuesday evening are his most outright supportive of the crown prince since Khashoggi went missing.
Khashoggi was last seen the afternoon of Oct. 2 entering the Saudi consulate in Turkey.
Saudi Arabia’s government denied the crown prince had any involvement in Khashoggi’s death.
Saudi Arabia has changed its story over time, first saying that Khashoggi left the consulate alive, but later admitting he was dead, claiming he was killed following an interrogation that “developed in a negative way, leading to a fistfight.”
