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President Donald Trump said Saturday that Saudi Arabia could be "severely punished" if the missing journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, had been killed inside the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul.
"We will get to the bottom of things and there will be a severe punishment," Trump said in excerpt from an interview given at "60 Minutes" of CBS, published Saturday morning.
When asked whether Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had ordered Khashoggi to be killed, Mr. Trump replied that "no one knows it yet, but we will probably know it".
"If that was the case, we would be very angry and angry," Trump added.
Khashoggi is a Saudi citizen and government critic who disappeared last Tuesday after entering the consulate, causing a major diplomatic crisis for the kingdom.
The Saudi government denied and condemned the allegations that he killed Khashoggi.
Interior Minister Prince Abdulaziz Bin Saud Bin Naif bin Abdulaziz said in a statement that allegations that the Saudi government killed Khashoggi "would be false lies and unfounded allegations".
Saudi Arabia is "committed to its principles, rules and traditions and is in compliance with international laws and conventions," the statement added.
However, despite the denial, the mounting evidence of Saudi participation has sparked a growing outcry from foreign governments, US lawmakers and the Trump administration, all of whom have called for more information.
The Turkish authorities have told US officials that they have records in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul that Khashoggi was killed inside, officials told NBC News.
The recordings were essential for Turkey to be confident enough to say that Khashoggi was dead and that Saudi Arabia had killed him, according to US and Turkish officials, as well as other people informed of the intelligence. The Washington Post has for the first time reported the recordings.
The existence of these recordings shows how Turkey was able to conclude so quickly that Khashoggi never left the consulate, as claimed by Saudi Arabia. A senior Turkish official had previously told NBC News that Turkey was 100% confident that Khashoggi had been killed at the consulate by a Saudi team of 15 members who stayed in Turkey for a brief period and then left.
In the CBS clip released before Sunday's broadcast, Trump said his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, had spoken with the crown prince, who has repeatedly denied any involvement in Khashoggi's disappearance.
"They deny it, they deny it in any way you can imagine, and in the not-too-distant future I think we will find an answer," said the president.
Despite his conflicting relations with the press, Trump acknowledged that Khashoggi's journalistic status meant that there was "a lot at stake" as the United States decided how they would react.
"There is a lot at stake, a lot at stake," said Trump. "And, perhaps most of all because this man was a journalist.There is something – you will be surprised to hear it – there is something really terrible and disgusting about it so much that it is a good thing. is the case, then we will have to see. "
But Trump also reiterated his earlier concerns that any sanctions should not have an impact on trade with Saudi Arabia, signaling that stopping US military sales to the kingdom may not be an option.
"I do not want to hurt jobs," he said.
At the same time, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the BBC that he was concerned that incidents such as the disappearance of Khashoggi were becoming a "new normal" then that he asked for "the truth" and urged governments to respond appropriately.
"It is absolutely essential that the international community say that this can not happen," he said.
