He conceded that it's "possible" that the Central Intelligence Agency lays the blame for Khashoggi's killing in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul at the door of Prince Mohammed.
A phone call from the Saudi ambassador to the United States to Khashoggi, audio recordings from Turkish officials, and the fact that some members of the 15-person team who carried out the operation have been on Mohammed's security team led to the CIA's conclusion, The Post says.
In his remarks, the president spoke of Saudi Arabia as "a truly spectacular ally in terms of jobs and economic development".
"I'm president - I have to take a lot of things into consideration", Trump said.
The CIA has concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman personally ordered the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, despite the Saudi government's denials that the de facto ruler was involved, according to a senior U.S. official and a source familiar with the matter.
The Saudi government has repeatedly changed its story on how Khashoggi died.
The CIA has reportedly concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman ordered Khashoggi's assassination in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul October 2.
The CIA's finding, first reported by the Washington Post, is the most definitive USA assessment to date tying Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler directly to the killing.
As per The Washington Post, Khalid told Khashoggi that he should go to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to get the documents and assured him that it would be safe. "And, we will do that while maintaining the important strategic relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia".
Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in the statement that the government was "determined to hold all those responsible for the killing of Jamal Khashoggi accountable" and that "there remain numerous unanswered questions with respect to the murder". Privately, aides said, Trump has been shown evidence of the prince's involvement but is still sceptical he ordered the killing.
Visiting a Pacific regional conference in Papua New Guinea on Saturday, US Vice President Mike Pence said Washington would "follow the facts" while trying to preserve a "strong and historic partnership" with Saudi Arabia.
A team of 15 Saudi agents flew to Istanbul on government aircraft in October and killed Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate, where he had gone to pick up documents he needed for his marriage to a Turkish woman.
Asked whether the crown prince had lied to him in denying any role in the killing, Trump said: "I don't know". The Post attributes its leak, which includes information on the CIA's methods, to "people familiar with the matter", "people familiar with the call", and "a USA official familiar with the CIA's conclusions", who seems to be the key leaker.
As we told the Washington Post the last contact I had with Mr. Khashoggi was via text on Oct 26 2017. "I've been fully briefed on it, there's no reason for me to hear it", Trump said in the interview with "Fox News Sunday". "I expect they will be in the future", he said at a security forum in Halifax, adding Middle Eastern allies including Saudi Arabia are "a stabilizing force in the region".
Speaking at a panel as part of an global conference in Halifax, Canada, Akar said Khashoggi's killers may have taken the journalist's body parts out of Turkey in luggage. During the phone call, Khalid bin Salman encouraged Khashoggi to go to the consulate in Istanbul.
"Trump must accept (for once) his intelligence experts' incontrovertible conclusion: Crown Prince MBS is culpable for Khashoggi's monstrous murder". She added that the claims in the CIA's "purported assessment are false".
But it said he made the call at the direction the crown prince, and the call was intercepted by US intelligence.
Eleven unidentified people have been charged by the Saudi public prosecutors and Assiri said that he is seeking the death penalty for five of them. "We're going to have to find out what they have to say".
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