Trump's relationship with the Saudi Crown Prince under pressure

President TrumpDonald John TrumpMichelle Obama declares that it is not always easy to adhere to the principle of "going high" Georgia certifies the election results in a fierce race to governor Trump's elections defends the deployment of the border under a new PLUS control Sunday, showed no sign of withdrawing his support for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, despite growing evidence and opposition to him within his own party.

Before the planned publication of a report detailing the findings of the intelligence community on the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who would accuse the prince of having ordered him to kill him, Trump continued to express doubts about the involvement of the Crown Prince.

The US president abstained when he was questioned in "Fox News Sunday" about the possibility that the Crown Prince lied to him when he denied his involvement in Khashoggi's death.

"I do not know, you know, who could really know, but I can tell he has a lot of people now who say they do not know," Trump said.

The president pointed out that the crown prince had directly denied any involvement in Khashoggi's death "maybe five times". Trump has repeatedly emphasized these denials, even as his own intelligence community and lawmakers on both sides are increasingly certain of Mohammed's role.

The CIA reportedly determined that Mohammed had ordered Khashoggi's assassination. The assessment of "great trust" is based on multiple sources of intelligence, including a call between Crown Prince's brother Khalid bin Salman and Khashoggi, the Washington Post reported.

Trump told reporters Saturday that it was "premature" to say that the CIA had come to a conclusion. His administration will publish a report on this topic on Tuesday, said the president.

Trump has sometimes criticized the Saudis after the death of Khashoggi and sometimes defensive Crown Prince, nicknamed colloquially "MBS". The president has expressed reluctance to endanger US-Saudi relations, while condemning the killing of a journalist and calling the sequel "the worst coverage ever".

The administration has so far sanctioned 17 Saudis for their alleged role in the death of Khashoggi and revoked the US visas granted to some officials found responsible for the incident.

Sen. Roy BluntRoy Dean BluntSunday Presents Premiere: New Members' Agenda After Takeover of Democratic House The Hill's Morning – Presented by T-Mobile – House, Senate Leaders Named As Pelosi seek President McConnell's support: Congress aims to reach agreement on sexual harassment bill this year MORE (R-Mo.), A member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, on Sunday rejected the suggestion of former Obama advisor, Ben Rhodes, that Trump might ignore US intelligence intended to cover the Saudi leader.

Regardless of the findings of Tuesday's report, a number of senators indicated that the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia had been fundamentally changed as a result of Khashoggi's murder.

Sen. Lindsey GrahamLindsey Olin GrahamSunday shows preview: New members have previewed the agenda after the takeover of Democratic House, Trump is preparing to entrust his close ally Graham a powerful president position on The Money: Why the tax law has not saved the majority of the GOP | Grassley chooses finance hammer to prepare Graham for the bench | Trump says China wants trade deal | Facebook takes over after the damning NYT PLUS report (RS.C.) stated in "Meet the Press" that it was "impossible" to believe that the crown prince had not sanctioned the murder, and suggested that as a result, the Saudi Arabia would fight on the world stage.

"He's an important ally, but when it comes to the Crown Prince, he's irrational, he's helpless and I think he's done a lot of damage to the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia." said Graham. "And I have no intention of working with him ever again."

Graham and other Republicans were always convinced that the Crown Prince had contributed to Khashoggi's death and asked Trump to take a hard line against the kingdom in response.

"I think the overwhelming evidence that the Crown Prince was involved, and so no, I do not think we can go unheard," Sen said. Rand PaulRandal (Rand) Howard PaulSunday Shows Previews: New Members Have Agendas After Takeover of Democratic House Overnight Defense – Presented by Raytheon – Lawmakers Wonder How to Punish Saudi Arabia | Trump Regrets Not Visiting Arlington on Veterans Day | American Hillicon Valley owned by a group of North Korean detainees: Facebook vacillates after NYT report | Dems want an investigation from DOJ | HQ2 brings a new review on Amazon | Judge confirms indictments of Russian troll farms | Cyber ​​moonshot panel unveils its recommendations PLUS (R-Ky.), Who has been among the fiercest critics of US-Saudi relations.

Paul said on "Face the Nation" that the sanctions invoked by the Trump administration against 17 people for their alleged role in Khashoggi's death do not go far enough. He repeated his suggestion that the Trump administration should cut off arms sales to the Saudis.

Trump rejected calls for the reduction of arms sales, citing economic concerns.

Sen. Jeff FlakeJeffrey (Jeff) Lane FlakeTrump defends border deployment under tight control Sunday's shows: a prerelease for new members after the takeover of Democratic House According to a senior political reporter, voters in New Hampshire have " hunger "to moderate political turmoil MORE (R-Ariz.) Stated on CNN's "State of the Union" that economic interests were not a sufficient reason not to punish the Saudis.

"Simply distract attention and say that it's a spectacular ally, whereas in fact, flowering has been going on for some time, especially because of the war in Yemen," he said. -he declares. "So, there are things that we will have to face here soon, and I hope we will do it on the basis of the truth, not something we just want to see because we have invested a lot in the relationship with the prince crown now. "

Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist who criticized Saudi leaders, was killed after joining the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2nd. His remains have not been found yet.

The president's reaction to the murder has put the spotlight on his often-discussed relationship with authoritarian figures. Trump expressed admiration or desire to strengthen ties with Kim Jong Un of North Korea and Vladimir Putin of Russia. In both cases, he argued that the dialogue would benefit American interests.

Trump declined Sunday to speculate that the Saudi Crown Prince lied to him, and again stressed his desire to stay close to a controversial ally.

"Will anyone really know it?" Said Trump when asked if MBS had lied. "But he certainly had people who were reasonably close to him and close to him who were probably involved."

"You have seen that we are applying very heavy sanctions, massive sanctions to a large group in Saudi Arabia," he said. "At the same time, we have an ally and I want to stay with an ally who, in many ways, has been very good."