Trump: Saudis Deny, ’Severe Punishment’ if They Killed Khashoggi

Local Editor

US President Donald Trump vowed "severe punishment" for Saudi Arabia if the United States determines that Saudi agents killed Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, calling the journalist's suspected murder "really terrible and disgusting."

In excerpts of a new interview released Saturday morning, Trump said the incident is being investigated and that the Saudis deny any involvement, despite .the mounting evidence that the Saudi regime was implicated in Khashoggi's disappearance last week

"Well, nobody knows yet, but we'll probably be able to find out," Trump said in the interview with Lesley Stahl of CBS's "60 Minutes," which will air in full on Sunday night.

He further added: "It's being investigated, it's being looked at very, very strongly. And we would be very upset and angry if that were the case. As of this moment, they deny it, and they deny it vehemently. Could it be them? Yes."

Trump added, "We're going to get to the bottom of it and there will be severe punishment."

Turkish authorities say a team of Saudis killed Khashoggi, and U.S. intelligence intercepts show Saudi officials discussing an operation to lure Khashoggi back to Saudi Arabia from his home in Virginia and detain him.

Trump told Stahl that Jared Kushner, his son-in-law and a senior White House adviser, spoke by phone with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who denied any involvement.

"They deny it," Trump said. "They deny it every way you can imagine. In the not too distant future I think we'll know an answer."

Stahl asked Trump about his options to retaliate against the Saudis, including possibly imposing economic sanctions against the oil-rich desert kingdom, as a bipartisan group of senators has proposed.

"Well, it depends on what the sanction is," Trump replied. "I'll give you an example. They are ordering military equipment. Everybody in the world wanted that order. Russia wanted it, China wanted it, we wanted it. We got it, and we got all of it, every bit of it."

Asked if he would cut off that order, Trump hesitated.

"Well, I'll tell you what I don't want to do. Boeing, Lockheed, Raytheon, I don't want to hurt jobs. I don't want to lose an order like that. And you know what, there are other ways of punishing, to use a word that's a pretty harsh word, but it's true."

The US president added, "There's a lot at stake. And, maybe especially so because this man was a reporter. There's something - you'll be surprised to hear me say that, there's something really terrible and disgusting about that if that was the case so we're going to have to see."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team