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Saudi Arabia is under intense international pressure to explain the disappearance of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, who went to the consulate on October 2 for papers that would have allowed him to marry his Turkish bride.
The disappearance of Khashoggi, an insider turned critical of the Saudi government, provoked outrage from the international community and called for punitive measures against Saudi Arabia.
He also highlighted the close ties between Trump and the kingdom, while Secretary of State Mike Pompeo embarked on a difficult diplomatic mission to contain the crisis.
Trump hinted in an interview Tuesday that the wave of criticism that the Middle East kingdom had been facing about Khashoggi's disappearance was premature, comparing the case to allegations of sexual assault against recently confirmed judge Brett Kavanaugh of the Supreme Court.
"We are going back with you, you know you are guilty until proven otherwise," Trump told the Associated Press during a meeting at the White House.
"I do not like it," he added. "We experienced this with Judge Kavanaugh, and he was innocent until the end."
Later during an interview with Fox, he said that if Saudi Arabia knew what had happened to Khashoggi, "it would be serious".
& # 39; Must be held responsible & # 39;
Despite Trump's caution, Washington's "working hypothesis" is that Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate, a US official told CNN.
On Tuesday, the Foreign Ministers of Canada, the United States, France, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as the High Representative of the Union urged Saudi Arabia to conduct a "thorough, credible, transparent and expeditious investigation".
"Those who bear the responsibility for his disappearance must report," they added in a statement.
Pompeo will arrive in Ankara, Turkey on Wednesday to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He visited Saudi Arabia on Tuesday where he met with King Salman and the Crown Prince, who, he said, "firmly denies" any information about what happened to Khashoggi. .
"My assessment of these meetings is that there is a serious commitment to ascertain all the facts and to ensure accountability, including the accountability of senior Saudi leaders or senior officials," Pompeo said Tuesday. outcome of a meeting.
The Turkish authorities estimate that 15 Saudis arrived in Istanbul on October 2 were linked to the possible death of Khashoggi. At least some of them seem to have high level relations within the Saudi government.
Turkish officials told CNN that Khashoggi's body was dismembered after his assassination at the consulate.
Several US officials told CNN that such an operation could have taken place without the direct knowledge of the Crown Prince.
Earlier, a source close to the ongoing investigation had told CNN that the Turkish authorities had sound and visual evidence showing that Khashoggi had been killed inside the Saudi Arabian consulate. 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.
Diplomatic rift
The crisis has created a diplomatic rift between Saudi Arabia and the West and is leading international companies to pull out of a highly publicized summit in Riyadh. CEOs of three major banks – Standard Chartered, HSBC and Credit Suisse – announced their withdrawal from the conference on Tuesday.
According to a statement on Tuesday, Christine Lagarde, Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund, was the last guest to withdraw.
On Tuesday, prominent Republican lawmakers forcefully claimed responses and retaliatory measures on the disappearing Senator Lindsey Graham threatening to "punish hell" outside of Saudi Arabia.
President Trump has been reluctant to criticize the kingdom, a key US ally playing a central role in his administration's Middle East policy, despite mounting pressure inside and out. outside the country.
Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, have also developed personal and professional relationships with the Saudis.
Kushner has developed close ties with the Crown Prince, whose attempts to promote a reformist image could be fatally affected by the crisis.
In an interview given on CBS '60 Minutes show, Trump is bristling at the prospect of reducing arms sales to Saudi Arabia. In a statement on Monday, he extolled the Saudi king 's denial and put forward the idea that "dishonest killers" might have been involved.
Trump's comments may indicate that Washington is preparing to accept Saudi Arabia's efforts to move its leaders away from Khashoggi's fate.
Sources told CNN that the kingdom was preparing a report acknowledging that Khashoggi had died at the Istanbul consulate during an interrogation that had gone wrong. The sources said the interrogation aimed to lead to his forced return to Saudi Arabia.
One source said the report would likely conclude that the operation was carried out without authorization and transparency and that those involved would be held responsible.
Passport scans point to Crown Prince
The Saudi authorities had previously claimed that Khashoggi had left the consulate the same afternoon of his visit, but they had not provided any evidence to support this claim.
However, confessing that Khashoggi died at the consulate is unlikely to deter difficult questions about where his remains are, about the men's movements and about their relationship with the Crown Prince.
Three sources close to the case told CNN that the senior officer who was close to the Crown Prince's restricted circle and who led the group of men to Istanbul came from the General Intelligence Presidency, the main service. of Saudi Arabia. A source said that the officer had assembled and sent his own team to interrogate Khashoggi.
Turkish officials provided CNN with passport scans of seven men suspected of being part of the Saudi team. The passport scanners were taken on the day of Khashoggi's disappearance.
One of the passport scanners seems to belong to Salah Muhammad al-Tubaiqi, listed as head of forensic medicine at the Saudi Ministry of the Interior. Muhammad Saad al-Zahrani, who appeared on Saudi public television alongside the Crown Prince, is another member of the group identified by the official Turkish media and part of the so-called digitized documents.
If this group is to be described as part of a dishonest operation to bring Khashoggi back to Saudi Arabia, questions may arise about al-Tubaiqi.
If the autopsy specialist left Saudi Arabia to go to Istanbul before Khashoggi entered the consulate, as Turkish sources would say, it might be difficult to find the explanation according to which any murder would be the result of sloppy and unpremeditated questioning.
Turkish authorities have also raised questions about Saudi Arabia's lack of cooperation in the investigation into the disappearance.
By the time Turkish investigators had access to the consulate Monday night, a new coat of paint was applied "everywhere" inside the building, a Turkish official told CNN on Tuesday. The source said that Saudi Arabia should "make a real contribution" to the investigation into Khashoggi's disappearance in Istanbul.
Earlier Tuesday, Erdogan suggested that investigators investigate the possibility of evidence of toxic substances being concealed.
"My hope is that we can reach conclusions that will give us reasonable notice as soon as possible, because the investigation examines many problems, such as toxic materials and their elimination by repainting them," Erdogan said at the conference. press.
