The president notes that the Saudis are allies and it may never be known who ordered the killing.<\/b>
\nWASHINGTON \u2014 President Trump said there is no reason for him to listen to a recording of the \u201cvery violent, very vicious\u201d killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which has put him in a diplomatic bind: how to admonish Riyadh for the slaying yet maintain strong ties with a close ally.
Trump, in an interview that aired Sunday, made clear that the audio recording, supplied by the Turkish government, would not affect his response to the Oct. 2 killing of Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post who had been critical of the Saudi royal family.
\u201cIt\u2019s a suffering tape, it\u2019s a terrible tape. I\u2019ve been fully briefed on it, there\u2019s no reason for me to hear it,\u201d Trump said in the interview with \u201cFox News Sunday.\u201d \u201dI know everything that went on in the tape without having to hear it.\u201d
On Saturday, Trump said his administration will \u201cbe having a very full report over the next two days, probably Monday or Tuesday.\u201d He said the report will include \u201cwho did it.\u201d It was unclear if the report would be made public.
American intelligence agencies have concluded that the crown prince ordered the killing in the Saudi Consulate in Turkey, according to a U. S. official familiar with the assessment. The official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. Others familiar with the case caution that while it\u2019s likely the crown prince was involved in the death, there continue to be questions about what role he played.
Trump noted to \u201cFox News Sunday\u201d that the crown prince has repeatedly denied being involved in the killing inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.
\u201cWill anybody really know?\u201d Trump asked. \u201cAt the same time, we do have an ally, and I want to stick with an ally that in many ways has been very good.\u201d
A Republican member of the Senate intelligence committee said that so far, there is no \u201csmoking gun\u201d linking the crown prince to the killing. Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, who has received a confidential intelligence briefing on the matter, told ABC that \u201cit\u2019s hard to imagine\u201d that the crown prince didn\u2019t know about the killing, but he said, \u201cI don\u2019t know that we absolutely know that yet.\u201d
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