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Trump denied "covering up" Saudi Arabia, insisting that he wanted to get to the bottom of things.
"I want to know what happened, where is the fault, and we'll probably know it by the end of the week, but Mike Pompeo is coming back, we're going to have a long discussion," he said. -he declares.
But Trump again stressed the importance of Washington's relations with Saudi Arabia, highlighting Saudi investments in the United States.
"They buy a lot not only military equipment, but other things as well," Trump told reporters on Wednesday.
Sources told CNN that the Saudi group was led by a high-ranking intelligence officer, a source claiming he was close to the restricted circle of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Several officials told CNN that any murder would not have occurred without the direct knowledge of the 33-year-old Crown Prince, known by his initials "MBS".
According to Turkish media reports, Khashoggi was reportedly tortured and later murdered shortly after entering the consulate, according to graying news from an audio recording that Turkey claims is extracting from the Saudi consulate. Turkish officials told CNN that Khashoggi's body was later dismembered.
Khashoggi may have received some kind of tranquilizer before his death, a source told CNN.
"Total denial"
The crisis led to a diplomatic mess that entangled Washington, Riyadh, and Istanbul and sparked criticism of Trump's apparent reluctance to press the kingdom over the allegations.
The disappearance of Khashoggi also led international companies to pull out of a high-profile summit in Riyadh this month. CEOs of three major banks announced their withdrawal from the conference on Tuesday. Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund, also canceled her participation.
The US administration continued to defend Riyadh. Trump said Wednesday that the United States had asked Turkey for a copy of an audio recording that would have captured death and dismemberment, while seeming to cast doubt on the very existence of this recording .
"We asked, if it exists," Trump said. "I'm not sure yet that it exists, probably, probably exists."
When asked whether Saudi officials had told him whether Khashoggi was dead or alive, Pompeo said, "I do not want to talk about any of the facts, they did not want it either. to carry out this investigation thoroughly … I think it's a reasonable thing to do, give them that opportunity and then we can all judge. "
"Addressing Brussels journalists about Saudi promises to investigate what happened, Pompeo acknowledged that there had been some delays" in the preparation of the report. a Saudi report, but said that it was "reasonable to give them a few more days to complete" their own investigation "so that they get the desired results, so that it is thorough and complete."
He added: "Sooner will be better than later."
Tuesday, the same day, Pompeo landed in Riyadh. $ 100 million from the Saudi government arrived in Washington for US efforts to stabilize Syria, according to a state department official.
This contribution follows President Trump's request to partners to share the burden of promoting stability in Syria, but his timing has raised questions about a possible sop, while Riyadh seeks to limit the damage resulting from Allegations relating to the disappearance of Khashoggi.
The State Department denied any connection between the payment and the Khashoggi crisis.
"We were still expecting the contribution to be finalized in the fall," said Brett McGurk, a state department official, in a statement. "The specific transfer of funds has been going on for a long time and has nothing to do with any other events or with the secretary's visit."
Operation led by Saudi intelligence
Saudi officials 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.
Sources told CNN that the kingdom was preparing a report acknowledging that Khashoggi had died at the 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.
But a Saudi confession that Khashoggi died at the consulate would not dispel difficult questions about where his remains are, nor about the movements of the 15 men and their links with Ben Salman.
The high-ranking officer who led the men's group in Istanbul came from the General Intelligence Presidency, the main Saudi intelligence service, told CNN three sources close to the case.
"He was seconded to an elite protection brigade within the Royal Guard to serve as the personal security force of the (Crown Prince)," the source told CNN.
Photographs of Mutreb with Bin Salman appeared during the US Crown Prince's tour earlier this year. Mutreb was the first secretary of the Saudi embassy in London, according to a list of foreign diplomats established by the British government in 2007 and a Saudi source in London who knew him and described him as a colonel of the Saudi intelligence services.
Turkish officials also provided CNN with passport scans of seven other men who they suspected had been 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.
In an interview with Asharq al-Awsat, a Saudi newspaper based in London, in 2014, Tubaiqi praised a mobile clinic designed to perform autopsies in record time of seven minutes, the first of its kind. kind to the world. Tubaiqi, who at the time was working as a forensic consultant and clinic supervisor, told the newspaper that his idea was to design the clinic to allow coroners to perform forensic examinations and dissect bodies at the scene of a crime or accident.
Muhammad Saad al-Zahrani, who appeared on Saudi public television alongside Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is another member of the group identified by the official Turkish media and included in the alleged scans of the passport.
If this group is to be characterized by Saudi Arabia as part of a dishonest operation to bring back Khashoggi living in the kingdom, it might still be difficult to explain how a group of men so close to the heart of the establishment Saudi operated the knowledge of the Crown Prince.
if the allegations by Turkish officials proved that Khashoggi was murdered shortly after he entered the consulate, it would contradict the idea that he died as a result of botched interrogation.
Another set of questions could be about al-Tubaiqi. For example, if the autopsy specialist left Saudi Arabia for Istanbul before Khashoggi entered the consulate, as Turkish sources would say, it might be difficult to find an explanation that any murder was not possible. Was not premeditated.
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 asked Saudi Arabia to make "a real contribution" to the investigation.
Turkish investigators raided Wednesday the residence of the Saudi consul general in Istanbul. The search of the residence, which also concerned dogs, began Thursday morning. We did not know if anything had been discovered.
The Saudi consul general, Mohammad al-Otaibi, left the country on Tuesday, reported the Turkish Anadolu news agency.
Reporters Gul Tuysuz, Nic Robertson, Tim Lister and Clarissa Ward of CNN have been reported from Istanbul. Laura Smith-Spark wrote from London and Bard Wilkinson from Hong Kong. Barbara Arvanitidis, Michael Callahan, Hamdi Alkhshali, Sarah Sirgany and Isil Sariyuce contributed to this report.
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