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ISTANBUL – While the White House is taking its first steps to punish the murderers of the Washington Post contributor, Jamal Khashoggi, the royal Saudi leader, whom many believe is directly linked to the murder, was due to make his first public remarks on Wednesday.
President Trump, who accepted the initial denials of responsibility of the Saudi royal family, said on Tuesday that the killing of Khashoggi implied "the worst of history concealment operations." Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the State Department revoke visas for 21 Saudis the United States identified as part of the operation that saw Khashoggi killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
As CBS News correspondent Holly Williams reports, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman was due to speak at a Wednesday investment conference in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. This will be his first speech since the assassination of Khashoggi on October 2nd.
Saudi Arabia is scrambling to control the damage. Extraordinary footage released Tuesday by the government-controlled media of the ultra-conservative Islamic kingdom showed King Salman and his son, the Crown Prince, expressing their personal condolences to the bereaved brothers and sons of Jamal Khashoggi.
As Williams reports, it is hard to imagine what was going on in Salah and Sahl Khashoggi's mind at the meeting, given that Turkish officials and some US lawmakers believe the crown prince was involved in the murder. from Khashoggi.
President Trump again stressed on Tuesday the importance of US-Saudi relations, but he also strongly criticized the killing – and the Saudi trickery that followed.
"The the concealment was horrible, "Mr. Trump told reporters at the White House." The execution was horrible, but there should never have been any and an execution or concealment because this should never have happened. "
When Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman made his first appearance at the conference on investment on Tuesday, he was greeted with applause.
The crown prince has been presented as a modernizer and the Riyadh conference is supposed to present his reforms. But at least two dozen businesses and political leaders have withdrawn, in protest against the killing of Khashoggi.
There is still no confirmation of what the Saudis did with Khashoggi's body. Saudi officials said the men who had killed him – whom they claimed were acting outside their mandate – had wrapped him in a rug and handed over to a local "collaborator" no identified.
On Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, accusing the Saudis of a "political murder" premeditated challenged the Saudis to identify the "collaborator" or the main investigators of Khashoggi's body.
Turkish police searched Tuesday a car registered at the consulate of Saudi Arabia after it was found in an underground car park in Istanbul. Turkish media reported Wednesday that the police had found no significant evidence linking the vehicle to the Khashoggi case.
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