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Trump Suggests 'Rogue Killers' Could Have Murdered Missing Saudi Journalist

by Ken Bredemeier

   WASHINGTON --

   U.S. President Donald Trump suggests "rogue killers" might have
   murdered missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, last seen two weeks
   ago entering Riyadh's consulate in Istanbul.

   Trump said Saudi King Salman told him in a 20-minute phone conversation
   Monday he had no knowledge of what happened to Khashoggi, a critic of
   the heir to the Saudi throne, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

   "His denials to me could not have been stronger," Trump said at the
   White House. "Maybe I do not want to get into his mind, but it sounded
   to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers - I mean, who
   knows?"

   The U.S. leader dispatched Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Riyadh to
   talk with Saudi King Salman about Khashoggi's disappearance after he
   said the monarch told him in a 20-minute phone conversation he had no
   knowledge of what happened to Khashoggi, a critic of the heir to the
   Saudi throne, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

   Trump vowed to "leave nothing uncovered" in determining what happened
   to Khashoggi.

   Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate October 2 to get documents he
   needed to marry his fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, a Turkish national who
   waited in vain outside for Khashoggi to return.

   Late Sunday, the Saudi monarch and Turkish President Recep Tayyip
   Erdogan discussed forming a joint working group to look into the
   disappearance of Khashoggi, whom Turkish officials believe was murdered
   by Saudi agents inside the Saudi consulate.

   Saudi Arabia calls the allegations "baseless" and says Khashoggi left
   the consulate on his own, although neither Turkey nor Saudi Arabia has
   provided clear evidence to support its version of events.

   Trump told the CBS news show 60 Minutes on Sunday that Saudi Arabia
   would face "severe punishment" if it is determined Khashoggi was killed
   inside the Saudi consulate, but Riyadh dismissed the U.S. threat and
   said it would retaliate if Trump took any action against Saudi Arabia.

   The official Saudi Press Agency quoted an unnamed government source
   Sunday as saying, "The Kingdom affirms its total rejection of any
   threats and attempts to undermine it, whether by threatening to impose
   economic sanctions, using political pressures, or repeating false
   accusations."

   The statement said the Saudi government "also affirms that if it
   receives any action, it will respond with greater action," noting that
   its economy, as the world's biggest oil exporter, "has an influential
   and vital role in the global economy."

   Khashoggi was living in self-imposed exile in the United States and had
   criticized the Saudi crown prince in columns written for The Washington
   Post.

   Trump said "nobody knows yet" what happened inside the consulate, "but
   we'll probably be able to find out" if the crown prince ordered
   Khashoggi's murder. Trump added the United States "would be very upset
   and angry if that were the case."

   But Trump, who has frequently boasted about his business ties with the
   kingdom, suggested during the CBS interview that ending U.S. arms sales
   to Saudi Arabia would not be an option, saying, "I don't want to hurt
   jobs."

   A key U.S. lawmaker, Republican Senator Marco Rubio, told CNN on Sunday
   that if Saudi agents "went medieval" on Khashoggi, "that would be an
   outrage." He said any response to Khashoggi's killing "needs to be
   strong, not symbolic," including the possibility of cutting off U.S.
   weapons sales to Riyadh, or it would undermine the U.S. moral standing
   in the world.

   In protest of Khashoggi's disappearance, several U.S. businesses
   leaders have pulled out of next week's Future Investment Initiative in
   Riyadh, dubbed "Davos in the Desert," after the annual meeting of world
   economic interests in Switzerland. Rubio said U.S. Treasury Secretary
   Steven Mnuchin should also withdraw, but White House economic adviser
   Larry Kudlow said the Treasury chief is still planning to go.

   Media reports say Khashoggi may have recorded his own death on his
   Apple Watch. The reports say Khashoggi turned on the sound recording
   capability on his device as he entered the Saudi consulate, and that
   the watch was connected to the iCloud and cell phone he left with his
   fiancee Cengiz before he went inside.

   Cengiz said she waited for Khashoggi to come out of the consulate, but
   he never left.

   The Washington Post reported in recent days that the Turkish government
   informed U.S. officials it was in possession of video recordings that
   prove Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate, but have not made them
   public.