Reuters: Trump gives Saudi Arabia benefit of doubt in journalist's disappearance
WASHINGTON/RIYADH (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump gave Saudi Arabia the benefit of the doubt in the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi even as U.S. lawmakers pointed the finger at the Saudi leadership and Western pressure mounted on Riyadh to provide answers.
“I think we have to find out what happened first,” Trump told the Associated Press in an interview on Tuesday. “Here we go again with, you know, you’re guilty until proven innocent. I don’t like that.”
Trump then referred directly to his nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ran into trouble in the Senate after several women came forward to accuse Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct, before Kavanaugh was ultimately confirmed.
Earlier, in a Twitter post, Trump said that Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman denied knowing what happened in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul where Khashoggi vanished two weeks ago after going there to collect documents he needed for his planned marriage.
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WNU Editor: President Trump may give Saudi Arabia the benefit of doubt in Khashoggi's disappearance, but listening to the President for the past few days I cannot help but feel that privately he strongly believes that Khashoggi was murdered on the orders of the Saudi government. I can understand why. There is too much at stake with Saudi Arabia right now, and now is not the time to shake-up the relationship. Which is too bad, because Saudi Arabia does deserve to be ostracized for this and other bad behavior.
2 comments:
Your view is somewhat interesting considering past comments when it comes to Saudi Arabia.
Makes me wonder if your view would change if this was done under a different administration...
It may have been an order carried out without clear instructions by underlings wanting to impress the boss.
We certainly target and kill our fair share of threats but they are not in downtown Istanbul.
Someone did not think through this operation very well.
15 saudi officers is not low profile by any means.
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