Iran Press / America: Speaking to journalists outside the White House on Monday about Khashoggi’s disappearance, Trump said: “It sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers. Who knows?”
Trump said he had spoken to King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud for about 20 minutes about the Jamal Khashoggi case, according to an RT report.
Offering the rogue killer theory, Trump cited King Salman of Saudi Arabia’s “firm” denial that Riyadh had anything to do with the situation — despite the fact that Turkey claims to possess evidence proving the dissident journalist was murdered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
“[King Salman’s] denial to me could not have been stronger,” Trump told reporters.
Asked by journalists whether he believes King Salman's denial, Trump said all he could do was “report what [the king] told me - and he told me in a very firm way that they had no knowledge of it. He said it very strongly.”
Earlier, Trump said that he was sending Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Riyadh and “other places if necessary” to figure out what has happened to Khashoggi.
Turkish diplomatic sources said on Monday that a joint Turkish-Saudi team was put together to search for Khashoggi after his disappearance.
Many political commentators have noticed that both Donald Trump and senior Saudi officials seem to be acknowledging that journalist Jamal Khashoggi is dead. Trump's rogue killer theory seems to move away from disappearance and acknowledge that Khashoggi has probably been killed.
Read more:
Investigation begins at Saudi consulate in Istanbul over Khashoggi disappearance
Saudi Arabia preparing to admit Khashoggi death during interrogation
