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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration is investigating possible ways to root out the US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, an enemy of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, to convince Turkey to ease the pressure on the country. Murder of a Saudi journalist, reported NBC News Thursday.
A White House official told Reuters that NBC's story was "not accurate" but did not say.
The NBC, citing four sources, said that Trump administration officials had asked federal law enforcement agencies to check whether Gulen, accused by Erdogan of instigating a 2016 failed coup, , could be legally expelled from the United States.
Alp Aslandogan, Gulen's media advisor, said he had not been informed of the new US survey.
Erdogan has long been asking Washington to extradite Gulen, who denies any involvement in the coup attempt and who has been living in self-imposed exile in the United States since 1999. US authorities have said the courts need evidence sufficient to extradite the aged cleric.
Erdogan intensified his pressure on Saudi Arabia after US journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of Saudi leaders, was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, where he went to collect documents relating to his next wedding.
Saudi Arabia is seen as essential to President Donald Trump's efforts to curb Iran's growing influence in the region.
Erdogan insisted that the killing of Khashoggi was ordered to the "highest levels" of the Saudi government and maintained pressure on the de facto Saudi ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
"The White House has not been involved in any discussion linking Fethullah Gulen's extradition to the death of Jamal Khashoggi," said a White House official.
A senior Turkish official told Reuters that Turkey's request for extradition and his Khashoggi investigation were separate issues "unrelated in any way".
According to sources quoted by NBC News, the Trump administration reportedly ordered the Ministry of Justice and the FBI to reopen Turkey's case concerning Gulen's extradition and asked the Department of Homeland Security for information on its legal status.
NBC News said one of the options being considered by the administration was to force Gulen to settle in South Africa.
State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the US authorities continue to assess the information provided by Turkey on Gulen, but that this was the responsibility of the Justice Department and that the White House had not been involved in any discussion on extradition.
The Ministry of Justice and the FBI refused to comment. A source close to the Ministry of Justice's operations was not aware of any major investigation concerning Gulen.
NBC said the agency's career managers had rejected requests from the White House.
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