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The Trump administration offered its first reprimand of Saudi Arabia Thursday the disappearance of a US-based journalist who was reportedly murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Mnuchin's decision and Pompeo's remarks indicated that the Trump administration's patience with Saudi Arabia was being limited by the growing international outcry over Khashoggi's fate.
But leaving the Khashoggi case investigation at the hands of the Saudi, the administration has sent conflicting signals as to the strength with which it will be with its close Middle East ally.
New reports this week from Turkey indicate that people are cutting Khashoggi's fingers and beheading him at the Saudi consulate in Instanbul. The New York Times reported Thursday that American intelligence is increasingly believing that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is responsible for what has ever happened in Khashoggi.
The administration is under pressure from Republican congressional lawmakers, who have warned of sanctions against Saudi Arabia if its government is responsible for the assassination of Khashoggi, a Washington Post editorialist living in suburban Washington DC . Khashoggi criticized the Saudi government's management by Mohammed and the Trump administration's foreign policy.
It is unclear to what extent any investigation of Saudi Arabia on the Crown Prince would be independent.
"They made me understand that they also understood the seriousness of Mr. Khashoggi's disappearance," Pompeo said of the Saudis. "They also assured me that they would conduct a full and thorough investigation into all the facts surrounding Mr. Khashoggi and that they would do so as soon as possible."
Pompeo and Trump, who have put a strong relationship with Saudi Arabia at the center of his foreign policy, have both been criticized for managing the Khashoggi crisis.
Pompeo was filmed with a smile on his face in Riyadh, and was also criticized for saying that he was not talking about "none of the facts "about the Khashoggi affair with Saudi Arabia.
There are signs that the White House has not been satisfied with the media coverage, suggesting that it has adopted a too soft demarcation line with Saudi Arabia and that Pompeo and Trump would like to correct this impression.
Trump in a tweet Thursday said he had much discussed the Khashoggi affair with Pompeo and that he "is waiting for the results of the investigations conducted by the Saudis and Turkey".
Even as Trump and Pompeo tried to signal that they were taking a serious approach to the issue and needed to hear Riyadh's explanations, however, Pompeo also said the administration wanted to maintain an alliance with Saudi Arabia.
"I think it's important that we all understand that our strategic relationship with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is long since 1932," he said. "They constitute an important strategic alliance between the United States and we must also be aware of it."
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