United States President, Donald Trump has said that Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, “knew nothing” about the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as he welcomed him to the White House.
Trump’s comments appeared to contradict a US intelligence assessment in 2021 which determined the crown prince had approved the operation that led to Khashoggi’s death at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018.
It was his first US visit since the assassination, which sent shockwaves through the US-Saudi relationship.
The crown prince added that Saudi Arabia “did all the right steps” to investigate the murder, which he called “painful” and a “huge mistake”.