TIL Desk/World/Washington/ President Donald Trump has denied “giving cover” to United States’ “important ally” Saudi Arabia in the suspected murder of Jamal Khashoggi and sought a full report from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in the dissident Saudi journalist’s mysterious disappearance. Khashoggi, 60, is feared to have been killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
The incident has resulted in a global outrage, more so in the US where he lived as a legal permanent resident and worked for ‘The Washington Post’. Khashoggi vanished on October 2 after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Turkish authorities suspect he was abducted and murdered by the Saudis.
But Riyadh insists that the journalist, a known critic of Saudi King Salman, had left the building and that murder claims are “baseless”. Amidst mounting pressure in the US, Trump on Wednesday appeared to be resisting any move to take strong action against Saudi Arabia, arguing that it was a key ally of America. Trump told reporters at the White House that he had asked for the audio that gives a clue of the alleged brutal killing of Khashoggi.
