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Donald Trump claimed to presume the death of Jamal Khashoggi and said the consequences for Saudi Arabia could be "very serious" if his leaders had ordered the assassination of the dissenting journalist.
Trump made the remarks after being informed of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's investigation of Pompeo's return from a trip to Riyadh and Ankara.
In another sign, the Trump administration abandons its defense of Riyadh and begins to stand out from the Saudi monarchy after the alleged murder of Khashoggi. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced that he would not attend the government-sponsored investment conference this week in the Saudi capital, joining a growing exodus of corporate executives and executives. Western politicians.
Trump also ended his administration's refusal to discuss Khashoggi's fate. When asked when he thought the Saudi exile was dead, the president told reporters, "It really sounds like me. It's very sad. It certainly looks like that.
Regarding the reaction of the United States if it is established that the Saudi leaders are responsible for a frightful murder perpetrated in the country's consulate in Istanbul, Trump said: "This will have to be very severe. I mean, it's bad, it's bad. But we will see what happens. "
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French President Emmanuel Macron said that France had suspended its political visits to Saudi Arabia in coordination with Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, pending a "clarification" About what happened to Khashoggi. He said the French Finance Minister, Bruno Le Maire, had canceled his participation in the Riyadh investment forum. British Secretary of International Trade Liam Fox also withdrew from the Future Investment Initiative on Thursday.
In Istanbul, projectors and a drone were deployed during the search of the residence of the consul general of Saudi Arabia. Turkish investigators were finally allowed to enter the property in search of his mortal remains. Local news agencies in Istanbul also reported that the search for Khashoggi's body had been extended to two forested areas outside the city, which significantly broadened the geographical scope of the investigation.
The vast expanse of forests and farmland in Belgrade's Yalova province has been a new trail for the police after investigators used surveillance images of hundreds of cameras around the city to determine that the vehicles belonged to the consulate Saudi had been there late on October 2, the day Khashoggi disappeared.
A team of Turkish medical examiners left the Consul General's residence on Thursday morning after sweeping the building and the consular vehicles for nine hours. The consulate was also searched for the second time.
The investigators seemed particularly interested in the garage under the Consul General's home and parts of the property's garden had been dug up.
The consul general, Mohammad al-Otaibi, left the country on Tuesday with his family to travel to Riyadh after the announcement of the inclusion of his residence in the criminal investigation.
Research did not immediately determine what the search had revealed, but the investigators took away several boxes and bags. The Turkish Ministry of the Interior promised that the results would be "shared with the world".
At the same time, videotapes leaked to the pro-government newspaper Sabah in Turkey have established another connection between a suspect in the case and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who denies knowledge of the alleged murder of Khashoggi.
Photographs released Thursday, taken from a surveillance video outside the consulate, identified a man suspected of being a member of the Crown Prince's security team entering the building on the morning of 2 October .
The suspect is seen arriving with several other men at 9:55. Khashoggi arrived for an appointment at 1:14 pm
Sabah also released footage of videos taken that day, showing the same man in front of the consul general's home and later leaving a hotel nearby. The photos correspond to the profile of one of the 15 Saudi nationals photographed two weeks ago at Istanbul Atatürk Airport. Turkish officials believe that the team was at the origin of the alleged murder committed within the diplomatic mission.
A previous search of the consulate on Monday night revealed "toxic substances" and freshly repainted surfaces, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told reporters.
Khashoggi, a Washington Post editorialist who emigrated to the United States last year in exile, has not been seen since his visit to the consulate on October 2 to retrieve the documents necessary for his marriage.
In the last two weeks, Turkish officials have disclosed increasingly shocking evidence that they believe would prove that the journalist, who criticized the Saudi Crown Prince, was tortured and killed inside the building and that his dismembered body had been taken to the home of the consul general nearby. eliminated.
The Turkish and US media released Wednesday details of a three-minute audio recording presented by Turkish officials as evidence that Khashoggi had his fingers sliced during an interrogation. His killers would then beheaded and cut with a bone saw brought by a forensic specialist who allegedly traveled with the assassination team.
Riyadh denied the allegations. His official line is that Khashoggi left the Istanbul consul after he ceased his activities, but did not submit any evidence to support this claim.
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