Donald Trump vows ‘severe punishment’ if Saudi Arabia killed Jamal Khashoggi
Turkey says Saudia Arabia must cooperate on Khashoggi and allow allow access to consulate in Istanbul
US President Donald Trump vowed “severe punishment” for Saudi Arabia if the United States determines that Saudi agents killed The Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, calling the journalist’s suspected murder “really terrible and disgusting”.
In excerpts of a new interview released on Saturday morning, Trump said that the incident is being investigated and that the Saudis deny any involvement, despite the mounting evidence that the Saudi regime was implicated in Khashoggi’s disappearance last week.
“Well, nobody knows yet, but we’ll probably be able to find out,” Trump said in the interview with Lesley Stahl of CBS’s 60 Minutes, which will air in full on Sunday night. “It’s being investigated, it’s being looked at very, very strongly. And we would be very upset and angry if that were the case. As of this moment, they deny it, and they deny it vehemently. Could it be them? Yes.”
Trump added, “We’re going to get to the bottom of it, and there will be severe punishment.”
Turkish authorities say a team of Saudis killed Khashoggi, and US intelligence intercepts show Saudi officials discussing an operation to lure Khashoggi – a Saudi citizen who had been living in the United States – back to Saudi Arabia from his home in Virginia and detain him.
