Trump Announces He Will Take No Action Over Death Of Journalist Jamal Khashoggi

Donald Trump

Donald Trump has announced, in a stunning statement, that he will take no action against Saudi Arabia over the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

From The New York Times:

President Trump declared his unswerving loyalty to Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, on Tuesday, declaring that the prince’s culpability in the killing of the journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, might never be known.

“It could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event — maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!” Mr. Trump said in a remarkable, eight-paragraph, exclamation-point laden statement that appeared calculated to end debate over the American response to Mr. Khashoggi’s killing.

“We may never know all of the facts surrounding the murder of Mr. Jamal Khashoggi,” Mr. Trump said in the statement, which read like a verbatim transcript of the president’s off-the-cuff musings. “In any case, our relationship is with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”

"Maybe he did, and maybe he didn't!"

After more than a month of international outrage, confirmation by our intelligence organizations that the Crown Prince knew of the killing, and calls for the US to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for murdering a US resident and journalist, the Trumpster just said that it won’t happen.

This is an immoral, repugnant statement by a corrupt POTUS, whose financial interests remain secret. He smears the victim, and he smears those in Congress who care about national security and human rights. It is now open season for autocrats to murder people connected to America. https://t.co/OQkTFFmH7Y

— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) November 20, 2018

Imagine being tortured and dismembered and then having the president of the country that is supposed to hold your killers accountable instead repeat their smears against you while he gives them a pass.

That’s what just happened.

— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) November 20, 2018

So if you are a U.S. person who is kidnapped, tortured, and killed for exercising your rights by a country in which the President happens to have a personal and financial interest, he’ll stand with that country, not with you — and he considers that putting “America first.”

— Asha Rangappa (@AshaRangappa_) November 20, 2018