President Trump said Friday he’ll defer to Congress in determining whether to punish Saudi Arabia for the suspected murder of a dissident journalist, but he hopes lawmakers won’t disrupt the kingdom’s role as a “tremendous investor” and energy supplier for the U.S.
“They’re a major, major [oil] supplier,” Mr. Trump told reporters. “They’ve been a tremendous investor in the United States. We have $450 billion worth of things ordered from a very rich country. We have to take all of these things into account.”
Mr. Trump said he’s waiting for multiple investigations to be completed into the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a legal U.S. resident who wrote columns for The Washington Post. Mr. Khashoggi, a vocal critic of the Saudi government, disappeared after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on Oct. 2.
Turkish officials say they have audio tapes of Mr. Khashoggi being tortured and killed, apparently at the hands of Saudi operatives in the consulate. Saudi officials have denied any knowledge of what happened to Mr. Khashoggi.
The president said he is eager for the probes to “get to the bottom of it.”
“We have a lot of people working on it, we do and we have other countries working on it as you know. It’s a very serious problem,” Mr. Trump said.
After the probes are completed, the president said, he wants Congress to determine whether the U.S. should mete out any penalties such as sanctions against the kingdom.
“We’ll have very much Congress involved in determining what to do,” he said, comparing it to the Senate-requsted FBI probe of sexual-misconduct accusations against Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh. “I think I’ll have a very similar attitude on this. I will, in this case, make certain recommendations. But I will very much listen to what Congress has to say. They feel very strongly about it, also.”
The president said he wants lawmakers to keep in mind that he traveled to Saudi Arabia early in his presidency to secure greater investment in the U.S.
“I went to Saudi Arabia first and a large part of the reason was they agreed to do this, spend $450 billion on buying and investing in the United States,” he said. “So, I hope we can keep that, I hope we don’t lose track of that. There are plenty of other things we can do. It would be very hurtful to this country if we said, ’Oh we’re not going to sell it to you.’ I do hope that they’ll be able to see the way clear to … make these products. We’re talking about almost every state in the union [that] is affected because it’s the largest order ever given. Saudi Arabia’s been a great ally of ours. That’s why this is so sad.”
Asked when he expects the investigations to wrap up, Mr. Trump indicated he could get the results by Monday.
“I know a lot already,” he said. “We’ve done a lot of work on this.”
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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