Trump Once Again Ignores Strong Evidence Linking Saudi Prince to Killing of Jamal Khashoggi

The death didn’t come up in a recent call with his Saudi ally, the president said.

Meet The Press/YouTube

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

President Trump once again deflected conversation on the brutal death of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi—just days after a United Nations probe reported “credible evidence” that the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a major ally of the Trump administration, bore responsibility for the brutal killing. The UN report also recommended an FBI investigation.

In a recent phone call with the crown prince, Khashoggi’s death didn’t come up, Trump said in an interview that aired Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press.

Asked if he would allow the FBI to investigate the killing, Trump said, “I think it’s been heavily investigated.” He added, “I’ve seen so many different reports.” He went on to call the Middle East a “vicious, hostile place.”

“I only say [Saudi Arabia] spend $400 to $450 billion over a period of time, all money, all jobs, buying equipment,” Trump told host Chuck Todd. “I’m not like a fool that says, ‘We don’t want to do business with them.’ And by the way, if they don’t do business with us, you know what they do? They’ll do business with the Russians or with the Chinese.”

The Meet the Press interview covered a range of topics, from family separation at the border (which Trump falsely claimed was a policy under President Barack Obama) to former Attorney General Jeff Sessions (“I would say if I had one do over, it would be, I would not have appointed Jeff Sessions to be attorney general,” Trump said). The president also noted that he was “not looking for war” with Iran, but in the event of a war, “it’ll be obliteration like you’ve never seen before.”

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate