Trump slams Saudi Arabia for lying about Khashoggi's death

By Lalit K Jha
    Washington, Oct 21 (PTI) US President Donald Trump Sunday strongly criticised Saudi Arabia for its "deception" and "lies" in the killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, even as he defended Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and rejected the cancellation of USD 110 billion arms deal with the oil-rich country.
    Trump, in his strongest comments to date on the killing, told 'The Washington Post' that he had seen no evidence to indicate the Crown Prince knew Khashoggi was going to be killed or ordered the killing.
    Trump's remarks came after Saudi Arabia's acknowledgement that Khashoggi, 60, was killed in a "fist-fight" inside its consulate in Istanbul after a series of shifting explanations.
    "Obviously there's been deception, and there's been lies," Trump said even as he maintained his support for the Saudi Crown Prince and described him as a strong ruler.
    "Nobody has told me he's responsible. Nobody has told me he's not responsible. We haven't reached that point... I would love if he wasn't responsible," Trump told the daily.
    Trump insisted that he was against doing anything with the mega Saudi arms order worth USD 110 billion, which he said was important for jobs in the US and American companies.
    "It's the largest order in history. To give that up would hurt us far more than it hurts them. Then all they'll do is go to Russia or go to China. All that's doing is hurting us. With that being said, something will take place," he said.
    US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters in Jerusalem that it was premature to talk about sanctions against Saudi Arabia.
    "It would be premature to comment on sanctions and premature to comment on really any issues until we get further down the investigation and get to the bottom of what occurred," he said.
    Mnuchin said he was not attending the Saudi financial summit, but would be travelling to the Kingdom to talk with his counterparts on combatting terror financing.
    "I did not think it was appropriate to go and speak at this conference but we continue to have important issues with Saudi and that is why I am going there," he said.
    Meanwhile the opposition Democratic party continued to build up pressure on the Trump administration seeking strong action against Saudi Arabia.
    "We ought to formally expel the Saudi ambassador from the United States until there is a completion of a third-party investigation into this kidnap, murder and god-knows-what-followed that occurred in Istanbul," Dick Durbin told NBC news.
    The top Democrat alleged that the Saudi Crown Prince "has his fingerprints all over" Khashoggi's death.
    Khashoggi, a known critic of the Saudi Crown Prince, lived in the US as a legal permanent resident and worked for 'The Washington Post'. He was last seen on October 2 entering his country's consulate in Istanbul. PTI LKJ MRJ