U.S President, Donald Trump, said in a CBS interview that there would be “severe punishment” for Saudi Arabia if it turns out that missing Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Khashoggi, a prominent critic of Riyadh and legal resident of the United States, disappeared on October 2 after visiting the consulate, reports the News Agency of Nigeria on Saturday.
“We’re going to get to the bottom of it and there will be severe punishment,” Trump said.
Asked whether Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, gave an order to kill him, Trump said “nobody knows yet but we will probably be able to find out.”
Trump added in excerpts of a 60-minute interview that will be aired on Sunday today that, “we would be very upset and angry if that was the case”.
Trump said that there was much at stake with Khashoggi case, because he was a reporter.
Trump signaled that cutting off U.S. military sales to the kingdom may not be an option, saying, “I don’t want to hurt jobs.”
Turkish sources have told the Media that the initial assessment of the police was that Khashoggi was deliberately killed inside the consulate.
