WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump defended Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known as MBS, saying that he “knew nothing” about the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Trump, who contradicted U.S. intelligence, was asked by ABC News reporter Mary Bruce about his business dealings with bin Salman despite the intelligence report’s findings, which clearly aggravated the president.
“You’re mentioning somebody that was extremely controversial,” Trump said about Khashoggi. “A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen, but he knew nothing about it, and we can leave it at that.”
Trump began his remarks by saying that he was proud of the crown prince in “terms of human rights and everything else.”
Trump lashed out at Bruce, who asked the crown prince about Khashoggi’s death and about criticism from the families of the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, many of whom have long pushed for answers on the Saudi government’s potential ties to the attackers.
“ABC, fake news, one of the worst, one of the worst in the business,” he said.
The crown prince dismissed the criticisms against the Saudi government.
“I feel painful about, you know, families of 9/11 in America,” he said. “But you know, we have to focus on reality.”
“About the journalist, it’s really painful to hear that anyone losing his life for no real purpose.” The crown prince also said, “We did all the right steps in terms of investigation, etc., in Saudi Arabia and we’ve improved our system to be sure that nothing happened like that,” he added.
The 2021 U.S. intelligence report concluded that “the Crown Prince has had absolute control over the Kingdom’s security and intelligence organizations, making it highly unlikely that Saudi officials would have carried out an operation of this nature without the Crown Prince’s authorization.”
After arriving at the White House, the crown prince was greeted by a military flyover of stealth fighter jets, officers on horseback and a tour of the Rose Garden from Trump.
