Trump had previously said he doesn’t want to risk losing a $110 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia by responding too strongly. “It sounded…
Trump had previously said he doesn’t want to risk losing a $110 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia by responding too strongly.
“It sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers, who knows,” Trump said.
Donald Trump appeared to accept the Saudi stance, noting that Salman gave a “flat denial” of the idea that the Saudi government ordered Khashoggi’s murder.
“The denial was very strong. It wasn’t like there was a question in his mind. The denial was very, very strong,” Trump said.
Many pushed back against Trump’s claim, saying it was dangerous to parrot the denials of the Saudi government despite what is described as overwhelming evidence that it was involved in Khashoggi’s presumed murder.
Trump sticks with Kremlin playbook regarding #Khashoggi murder. “Rogue killers” – offers alternative explanations with no evidence. Same game, whether it’s Russia election interference, Khashoggi – “could have been someone else?”
— Clint Watts (@selectedwisdom) October 15,2018
Others including Washington Post columnist Brian Klaas believe that the Saudi leaders calculated that Trump’s “dictator worship” and his deep financial ties to Saudi Arabia would lead him against coming down hard on them for murdering Khashoggi.
The Saudis made a strategic calculation: Trump’s dictator worship; his personal financial ties to Saudi; and his hatred for the press—especially the Washington Post—meant he wouldn’t react harshly to them murdering a journalist. So far, they were right. https://t.co/8cIx1V6DZr
— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) October 15,2018
Donald Trump had similarly repeated claims made by Russian President Vladimir Putin that Russia did not interfere in the 2016 U. S. presidential election, despite a consensus from U. S. intelligence agencies that Putin ordered interference with a goal of helping Trump to be elected.
Trump had already pushed back against calls to punish Saudi Arabia, noting that he did not want to interfere with a reported $110 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia.
