Saudi Arabia’s account of the death of Jamal Khashoggi has been “all over the place,” President Trump told The Washington Post. His response has likewise changed day by day.
WASHINGTON — President Trump shifted his tone on Saudi Arabia again late Saturday, expressing doubt about the Saudi government’s claim that the journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed accidentally during a fistfight with a team of Saudi operatives.
“Obviously, there’s been deception and there’s been lies,” Mr. Trump said in a telephone interview with The Washington Post . “Their stories are all over the place.”
The president’s response to the Saudi accounts has likewise changed from day to day. Speaking to The New York Times on Thursday, Mr. Trump said he was confident in the intelligence reports about the episode, which paint a strong, if circumstantial, case that Mr. Khashoggi’s killing was ordered by the Saudi royal court.
On Friday evening, after the Saudis, more than two weeks after Mr. Khashoggi’s death, released the account of the accidental killing in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Mr. Trump was asked whether he found it credible. “I do,” he said .
Lawmakers from both parties, several of whom had been briefed on the American intelligence, immediately rejected the Saudi account as lacking credibility. Allies of Mr. Trump like Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Representative Peter T. King of New York expressed some of the most scathing criticism.
In his interview with The Post, Mr. Trump reiterated his view that Saudi Arabia is an important ally of the United States, and praised Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as a strong leader “who can keep things under check.” He added, “I mean that in a positive way.”
Mr. Trump said he did not know if Prince Mohammed had ordered the killing of Mr. Khashoggi.
“Nobody has told me he’s responsible. Nobody has told me he’s not responsible,” Mr. Trump said. “We haven’t reached that point. I haven’t heard either way.”
Senator Bob Corker, the Tennessee Republican who leads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was less equivocal on Sunday. He said that while he was waiting for the conclusions of American intelligence agencies before making a final judgment, he believed that Prince Mohammed was behind the killing.
“They’ve lost all credibility as it relates to explaining what has happened,” he said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I can understand the president wanting to keep open channels, but I think those of us who want to speak directly to this know that it’s just not credible.”
Mr. Corker said he hoped to get access this week to recordings that Turkish officials have said show that Mr. Khashoggi was tortured and dismembered.
