Khashoggi: Trump promises to be punished if journalist is murdered by Saudis


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In an excerpt from the interview, published by CBS on Saturday morning, Trump said that Jamal Khashoggi's case was "examined very very severely" and that his administration "would be very upset and angry" about it. Proved that Saudi Arabia the government had ordered his murder.

"From that moment on, they deny it and vehemently deny it, could it be for them?" Yes, he said, in which are his strongest comments on the subject.

Khashoggi, editorialist at the Washington Post, went to the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul on October 2 to obtain documents allowing him to marry his Turkish fiancee. It has not been seen in public since.

The evidence, which was described at the source by a Western intelligence service, showed that there had been aggression and struggle inside the consulate. There is also evidence of when Khashoggi was killed, said the source.

Foreign intelligence agencies have deemed "shocking and disgusting" the nature of the evidence presented at a briefing by Turkish officials, the source told CNN.

Saudi Arabia firmly denies any involvement in her disappearance and says she left the consulate this afternoon. But his fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, who was waiting in front of the consulate, claims not to have seen him come back. Turkey called on the Saudi authorities to provide proof that he had left the consulate.

Trump's comments came as a growing number of global companies withdrew from an upcoming summit in Saudi Arabia, while Khashoggi's demise was worrisome.
CCTV image of Jamal Khashoggi entering the consulate of Saudi Arabia on October 2nd.

Trump: "There is a lot at stake"

The Khashoggi case places the United States in a difficult position because of their close ties with Saudi Arabia, considered an important strategic ally in the Middle East. Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, have also developed personal and professional relationships with the Saudis.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, aka MBS, met on Tuesday by telephone with Kushner and National Security Adviser John Bolton. State Secretary Mike Pompeo also met with the 33-year-old Crown Prince.
Saudi disappearance highlights Trump's commercial ties

CBS journalist Lesley Stahl asked him if bin Salman had denied any involvement of Saudi Arabia in the disappearance of Khashoggi. Trump replied, "They deny it, they deny it in every way imaginable, and in the not-too-distant future we will have an answer."

Trump was confronted this week with increasing bipartisan pressure from members of Congress who ask him to impose heavy consequences on Saudi Arabia.

On the issue of possible sanctions, Trump reiterated his reluctance to compromise the $ 110 billion arms deal that he had negotiated with Saudi Arabia and that had been signed during his first trip to the United States. As a president, saying that he did not want to hurt jobs. But, he added, "there are other ways to punish, to use a word that is hard enough, but it's true."

He added, "There is a lot at stake." And maybe mostly because this man was a journalist. "There is something – you will be surprised to hear it, there is something really terrible about it. and disgusting about it if that was the case then we will have to see, we will get to the bottom of things and there will be severe punishment. "

The interview of "60 Minutes" should be broadcast Sunday.

The US president said Friday that he had not yet spoken to King Salman of Saudi Arabia – the father of the Crown Prince – as a result of the announced killing of Khashoggi, but that he expected "very soon".

The Turkish authorities estimate that 15 Saudis who arrived in Istanbul on 2 October were linked to the disappearance of Khashoggi and his possible assassination. At least some of them seem to have high level relations within the Saudi government.

On Thursday, a US intelligence official told CNN that the United States had intercepted Saudi officials to discuss a plan to lure Khashoggi into Saudi Arabia and keep him in detention.

Washington's "working hypothesis" is that Khashoggi was killed inside the Istanbul consulate, according to another US official aware of the latest information. "We are quite lucid, this is likely to happen and it has not finished well," said the manager. The source warned that it was the last assessment and that no conclusion had been drawn.

Saudi government denies order to kill

Saudi Interior Minister Abdulaziz said the Saudi government had ordered Khashoggi's assassination, "unfounded lies and accusations against the government of the Kingdom," according to a statement from the government. Saudi News Agency (Saudi Arabia). SPA) published early Saturday.

Abdulaziz also said that "some media" circulated "false accusations" about Khashoggi's disappearance.

A delegation from Saudi Arabia arrived in Turkey for the purpose of the investigation, reported Friday the Anadolu agency, run by the Turkish state.

A Saudi official said he "welcomed" the announcement by the Turkish president to form a joint team of experts from both countries to investigate Khashoggi's disappearance " , according to a statement from the Saudi Ministry of Information.

The fate of Jamal Khashoggi could pose a problem to Mohammed bin Salman

Saudi Arabia does not cooperate with the Turkish investigation, Turkish Foreign Minister Melvut Cavusoglu said on Saturday. "We have not seen any collaboration yet, we want to see it."

He added that the Saudi authorities still had to allow Turkish police and forensic teams to enter the consulate where Khashoggi was reportedly killed. "Where did he disappear?" There, in the consulate, therefore, in the interest of this investigation, to open everything, they must allow access to the consulate.

Turkish newspaper Sabah reported Saturday morning that Khashoggi reportedly recorded his own death via his Apple Watch and that the security forces responsible for the investigation found the audio file in the phone that Khashoggi had left with his fiancé.

CNN has not been able to independently verify the Sabah report and solicited comments from Saudi and Turkish officials.

CNN security and intelligence analyst Robert Baer questioned this claim, saying that she was too far away for a Bluetooth connection and that it was unlikely that Khashoggi planned to transmit a recording in advance. "I think what has happened is clearly that the Turks have plugged the consulate of Saudi Arabia, they have transmitters," he said.

"The Turks do not trust any diplomats, they went to most embassies and consulates in Turkey, they listen to what is happening – and if cassettes prove that he was murdered, I think that So they know but the Turks are very reluctant to admit it. "

Companies abandon the desert summit

Saudi Arabia is also facing increasing isolation as companies withdrew from a summit on high-level investment to be held in Riyadh at the end of the month.

Most of the media outlets that had agreed to sponsor the Initiative for the Future of Saudi Arabia, known as "Davos in the Desert", have now withdrawn.

They include the Japanese media company Nikkei, CNBC, the New York Times and the Financial Times. Bloomberg said Friday that it was pulling out of its media partnership, but added that he was still considering covering the news of the conference.

CNN, media partner of the event, confirmed Friday that she would no longer attend the conference. Viacom CEO Bob Bakish, Uber chief Dara Khosrowshahi and The Economist editor Zanny Minton Beddoes also pulled out.
The $ 110-billion Saudi Arabian arms deal has only raised $ 14.5 billion so far

However, IMF head Christine Lagarde told reporters at the International Monetary Fund's annual meeting in Bali, Indonesia on Saturday that she still plans to go to the Riyadh summit but will pay particular attention to new information.

"Horrible things have been reported" after Khashoggi's disappearance, she said, but she had to "lead the IMF's business around the world and with many governments."

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin also reaffirmed his commitment to attend the Riyadh conference, while expressing his concerns about Khashoggi's status. "The conference is open for now, I'm going there," he told reporters in Bali.

Speaking to the BBC, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for "the truth to be clear".

"We need to know exactly who is responsible and of course, when we see the multiplication of this kind of situation, I think we have to find ways to demand that responsibility is also required," he said. he declares.

Laura Smith-Spark wrote from London. Nic Robertson, Tim Lister, Hadas Gold, Samuel Burke, Gul Tuysuz and Mahatir Pasha contributed to this article.

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