'Don't embarrass our guest': Trump defends MBS in Khashoggi murder case, snaps at reporter | Watch

US President Donald Trump has said that the visiting Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman “knew nothing” about the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, drifting away from Washington’s earlier conclusion that the de facto ruler of the kingdom was involved in the murder.

Trump’s comments came as he hosted MBS at the White House on Tuesday. Replying to a question by a reporter about Khashoggi’s murder, Trump said, “You’re mentioning someone that was extremely controversial. A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about. Whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen.”

This is MBS’s first visit to the US since the 2018 killing. The president added, “But he [the Crown Prince] knew nothing about it. You don’t have to embarrass our guests.”

Is Trump right?

Trump’s latest statements are contradictory to a US intelligence assessment in 2021, which concluded that the crown prince had approved the operation that led to Khashoggi’s death at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018.

Bin Salman said it had been “painful” to hear about Khashoggi’s death but that his government “did all the right steps of investigation.” “We’ve improved our system to be sure that nothing like that happens. And it’s painful and it’s a huge mistake,” he told reporters.

MBS has been strongly criticised by human rights groups not only for the Khashoggi killing but for his crackdown on dissent at home. But the crown prince has also unleashed major social reforms that have swept away some austere social codes.

‘He should apologise’

Meanwhile, Khashoggi’s wife, Hanan Elatr Khashoggi, demanded that MBS should “apologise” to her for her husband’s death.

“The Crown Prince said he was sorry so he should meet me, apologize and compensate me for the murder of my husband,” she said on X. Hanan has been living in Washington DC after she was granted asylum by the US following her husband’s death.