President Trump said Tuesday that the cover-up of a journalist’s killing by Saudi Arabian operatives was “the worst in the history of cover-ups.”
“They had a very bad original concept, it was carried out poorly and the cover up was the worst in the history of cover ups,” Mr. Trump said at the White House. “They had the worst cover up ever. Whoever thought of that idea I think is in big trouble and they should be in big trouble.”
Mr. Trump gave his assessment at the White House on the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the hands of Saudi operatives in Turkey, after Turkey’s president called the killing a “planned” operation. Saudi Arabia’s government has denied that the killing of the dissident journalist, who was a legal resident of the U.S., was deliberate, claiming he died in a “fistfight” at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Mr. Trump said that he’s concerned about details revealed earlier in the day by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“He was pretty rough on Saudi Arabia,” the president said. “I want to see the facts first.”
But Mr. Trump stood firm on his view that the U.S. should not block arms sales to Saudi Arabia.
“In terms of what we ultimately do, I’m going to leave it very much — in conjunction with me — I’m going to leave it up to Congress,” Mr. Trump said, adding he hopes a decision will be bipartisan.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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