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The Guardian

Donald Trump has dismissed a United Nations request for the FBI to investigate the murder of the dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, suggesting it would jeopardise American weapons sales to Saudi Arabia.
A report on Khashoggi’s assassination published last week by the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings said the US should open an FBI inquiry and “pursue criminal prosecutions within the United States, as appropriate”.
But Trump brushed the proposal aside in an interview broadcast by NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday.
Asked if he would allow the FBI to investigate, Trump said: “I think it’s been heavily investigated.”
Asked who had investigated, the president replied: “By everybody. I mean … I’ve seen so many different reports.”

Khashoggi, 59, was a US resident who wrote for The Washington Post. He was killed and dismembered after he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October last year, seeking paperwork he needed to marry.
The UN report contains disturbing details of conversations between unidentified Saudis before and after Khashoggi’s arrival, based on transcripts provided by Turkish authorities.
Khashoggi is referred to as a “sacrificial animal”. One Saudi official is quoted as asking whether it would “be possible to put the trunk in a bag”. Another replies: “No. Too heavy. It is not a problem. The body is heavy. First time I cut on the ground. If we take plastic bags and cut it into pieces, it will be finished. We will wrap each of them.”
Transcripts of conversations after Khashoggi’s arrival at the consulate include the journalist saying: “There is a towel here. Are you going to give me drugs?”
The reply: “We will anaesthetise you.”
The UN special rapporteur blamed the Saudi government for the murder and said there was credible evidence that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and other senior officials were responsible.

Trump told NBC the murder “really didn’t come up” in a call this week with the prince, a key ally of the president’s senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who among other responsibilities is charged with implementing a plan for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
Trump also suggested Saudi Arabia was no worse than other states in the Middle East, which he called a “vicious, hostile place”, adding: “Look at Iran, look at other countries, I won’t mention names.”
The president then cited a drastically overinflated figure for Saudi spending on US weapons that fact-checkers have previously noted does not match the official record.
“I only say they spend US$400 billion to US$450 billion over a period of time, all money, all jobs, buying equipment,” Trump said.




In fact Saudi Arabia last year signed “letters of offer and acceptance” for US$14.5 billion in military purchases from the US.
The Senate last week voted to block the Trump administration selling arms to Saudi Arabia, seven Republicans joining Democrats to pass the measure. Trump has pledged to use his presidential veto and push on with the sales.
While denying he was saying such purchases were “the price” for Khashoggi’s murder, Trump on Sunday defended his consideration of arms sales in responding to the assassination.
“I’m not like a fool that says, ‘We don’t want to do business with them,’” Trump said. “And by the way, if they don’t do business with us, you know what they do? They’ll do business with the Russians or with the Chinese …
“We make the best equipment in the world, but they will buy great equipment from Russia and from China.”
‘Credible evidence’ Saudi crown prince liable for Khashoggi killing: UN
Prince Mohammed has denied responsibility for the murder. Eleven suspects are on trial in Riyadh, five of them facing the death penalty.
Confronted with gruesome details from the UN report this week, Saudi minister of state for foreign affairs Adel al-Jubeir told CNN the report was “flawed”.
“We know this was a rogue operation that was not authorised,” he said, “we know that a crime was committed, we have people in jail and on trial as we speak.
“It’s a gruesome murder that happened outside authorities and for which the people who committed it will be punished … this should never have happened.”
Al-Jubeir also said “mechanisms” were being “put in place to ensure this does not happen again”.


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Saudi Arabia

Donald Trump dismisses UN request for FBI to investigate Jamal Khashoggi’s murder to protect weapon sales to Saudi

Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed and dismembered after he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October last year. Photo: AP Photo

(FILES) In this file photo taken on June 22, 2019 US President Donald Trump speaks to the media prior to departing on Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, as he travels to Camp David, Maryland. - US President Donald Trump said in an interview broadcast on June 23, 2019 his chances of retaining the White House in 2020 would be strengthened if Democratic lawmakers start impeachment proceedings against him. Asked on NBC's "Meet the Press" whether he thought impeachment was good politics for him, Trump replied, "I think I win the election easier." (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP)

FILE PHOTO: A demonstrator holds a poster with a picture of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi outside the Saudi Arabia consulate in Istanbul, Turkey October 25, 2018. REUTERS/Osman Orsal/File Photo

‘Credible evidence’ Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman liable for Jamal Khashoggi killing, UN report finds

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Photo: Reuters

(FILES) In this file photo taken on December 15, 2014 Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi attends a press conference in the Bahraini capital Manama. - The children of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi have received multimillion-dollar homes and are being paid thousands of dollars per month by the kingdom's authorities, The Washington Post reported on April 1, 2019. Khashoggi -- a contributor to the Post and a critic of the Saudi government -- was killed and dismembered in October at the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul by a team of 15 agents sent from Riyadh. His body has not been recovered. (Photo by MOHAMMED AL-SHAIKH / AFP)

‘Shocking’ timing: US shared nuclear tech with Saudi Arabia soon after killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi

Activists dressed as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman and US President Donald Trump shake hands outside the White House during a protest over the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October. Photo: Reuters

(160728) -- PHILADELPHIA, July 28, 2016 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Democratic Nominee for Vice President Tim Kaine addresses the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the United States, July 27, 2016. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)(axy)

Journalist Jamal Khashoggi speaks during a press conference in Manama, Bahrain, in December 2014. Photo: AP

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Trump brushes the UN proposal aside, saying that ‘I think it’s been heavily investigated’


Trump brushes the UN proposal aside, saying that ‘I think it’s been heavily investigated’.
