TEHRAN, October 23 - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that he was still not satisfied with what he has heard from Saudi Arabia about the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey, but did not want to lose investment from Riyadh.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - Trump spoke with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of the world's top oil exporter, on Sunday.
He told reporters on Monday that he has teams in Saudi Arabia and Turkey working on the case and would know more about it after they returned to Washington on Monday night or Tuesday.
CIA Director Gina Haspel was traveling to Turkey on Monday to work on the Khashoggi investigation, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
"I am not satisfied with what I've heard," Trump told reporters at the White House. "I don't want to lose all that investment that's been made in our country. But we're going to get to the bottom of it."
He later told USA Today that he believed the death was a "plot gone awry."
Trump has expressed reluctance to punish the Saudis economically, citing the kingdom's multibillion-dollar purchases of U.S. military equipment and investments in U.S. companies.
Mohammed bin Salman met in Riyadh with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and discussed "the importance of the Saudi-U.S. strategic partnership," Saudi state media said. Mnuchin's spokesman said on Twitter the two discussed the Khashoggi investigation as well as Iran sanctions and Saudi economic issues.
Mnuchin canceled his speaking engagement at a high-profile Saudi investment conference on Tuesday, as did two dozen other top speakers.
Source: Reuters
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