Changing Course, Trump Accuses Saudis of ‘Deception’ in Killing of Khashoggi

President Donald Trump shifted his tone on Saudi Arabia again late Saturday, expressing doubt about the Saudi government’s claim that journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed accidentally during a fistfight with a team of Saudi operatives.

“Obviously, there’s been deception and there’s been lies,” Trump said in a telephone interview with The Washington Post. “Their stories are all over the place.”

The president’s response to the Saudi accounts has likewise changed from day to day. Speaking to The New York Times on Thursday, Trump said he was confident in the intelligence reports about the episode, which paint a strong, if circumstantial, case that Khashoggi’s killing was ordered by the Saudi royal court.

On Friday evening, after the Saudis, more than two weeks after Khashoggi’s death, released the account of the accidental killing in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Trump was asked whether he found it credible. “I do,” he said.

Lawmakers from both parties, several of whom had been briefed on the US intelligence, immediately rejected the Saudi account as lacking credibility. Allies of Trump like Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Rep. Peter T. King, R-N.Y., expressed some of the most scathing criticism.

In his interview with The Post, Trump reiterated his view that Saudi Arabia is an important ally of the United States, and praised Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as a strong leader “who can keep things under check.” He added, “I mean that in a positive way.”

Trump said he did not know if Prince Mohammed had ordered the killing of Khashoggi.

“Nobody has told me he’s responsible. Nobody has told me he’s not responsible,” Trump said. “We haven’t reached that point. I haven’t heard either way.”

Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., who leads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and other Republicans were less equivocal Sunday. Corker said that while he was waiting for the conclusions of US intelligence agencies before making a final judgment, he believed that Prince Mohammed was behind the killing.

“They’ve lost all credibility as it relates to explaining what has happened,” he said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I can understand the president wanting to keep open channels, but I think those of us who want to speak directly to this know that it’s just not credible.”

Corker, who has often been critical of the president, said he hoped to get access this week to recordings that Turkish officials have said show that Khashoggi was tortured and dismembered.

Others made clear that they wanted to see Saudi Arabia punished, though any action will have to wait until Congress returns after the midterm elections next month. Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., suggested that the United States consider ending arms sales to the Saudis, while Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said the Trump administration should consider pressing for the removal of the crown prince if it could be proved that he was behind the killing.

“Saudi’s got a lot of explaining to do, and I think everything should be on the table,” Sasse said on CNN, adding, “I think the cover stories from the Saudis are a mess. You don’t bring a bone saw to an accidental fistfight inside an embassy in Turkey, or a consulate in Turkey. So the Saudis have said a whole bunch of crap that’s not right, accurate or true.”

Tillis, speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said that “there has to be a consequence” for the death of Khashoggi. Asked if that consequence should include pressing King Salman to remove Prince Mohammed, he said, “I think it is to hold the people accountable who committed this horrible act, and if it is the crown prince, then I think that that is something that has to be explored.”

“If the facts lead to what we all suspect they will, I think it’ll be very problematic for our relationship going forward,” Tillis added, referring to the US relationship with Saudi Arabia.

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, said on “Meet the Press” that the United States should expel the Saudi ambassador, and that US allies should follow suit.

“Unless the Saudi kingdom understands that civilised countries around the world are going to reject this conduct and make sure that they pay a price for it, they’ll continue doing it,” Durbin said.

© 2018 New York Times News Service