US President Donald Trump has said that he stood by Saudi Arabia and its Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, in the aftermath of the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October.
“He’s the leader of Saudi Arabia. They’ve been a very good ally,” Trump said in an interview with Reuters in the Oval Office.
Asked by the news agency if standing by the kingdom meant standing by the Crown Prince, Trump responded: “Well, at this moment, it certainly does.”
He also said that the Crown Prince has denied any link to the Khashoggi case.
Pompeo also said in an interview with Fox News that Trump has made it “very clear that the murder of Jamal Khashoggi was a tragic incident. It was heinous. It's not something that America approves of.”
He said the US Treasury has already held a number of individuals accountable by putting sanctions on them, “those that we have evidence were directly involved.”
"America has an important ally in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. They work with us on issues that provide security for America,” Pompeo added.
“It is an important relationship with the Kingdom and we intend to continue to protect the American people in the way that voters back two years ago demanded."
Pompeo also told his interviewers that some of the reporting on the CIA’s report in the Khashoggi murder “has been inaccurate."
