Trump says missing Saudi journalist no reason to stop investments

U.S. President Donald Trump says he sees no reason to block Saudi Arabianinvestments in the United States despite concern over a missingSaudi journalist, saying the Gulf nation would then just moveits money into Russia and China.

Trump, speaking to reporters at the White House, saidthe United States was expecting a report soon on journalistJamal Khashoggi, but gave no other details.

Trump also spoke about the disappearance while being interviewed on the Fox & Friends program on Thursday, saying the U.S.is being "very tough" as it looks into the case.

"Well, we're looking at it very, very seriously,"Trump said. "I don't like it at all. Now, you don't have American citizens, but that in this case, [it] doesn't matter. I don't like it. I don't like it with respect to reporters. It is a terrible, terrible precedent. We can't let it happen.

"I have to find out what happened ... and we're probablygetting closer than you might think," he said in the Fox News interview.

Trump also expressedreservations over calls to withhold further U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia, saying such a move "would be hurting us."

Thursday evening, The Washington Post, citing unidentified U.S. and Turkish officials, reported that Turkey had told U.S. officials it has audio and video recordings that prove Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate. It was not clear that U.S. officials had seen the footage or heard the audio, the Post reported, but Turkish officials have described the recordings to them.

Global pressure has mounted on close U.S. ally Saudi Arabiaover the whereabouts of Khashoggi, a prominent critic of Saudipolicieswho entered the consulate on Oct. 2 to get documents for hisplanned marriage. His Turkish fiance, Hatice Cengiz, who waswaiting outside, said he never reappeared.

Turkish sources have previously said they believe Khashoggi was killedinside the building and his body was removed, allegations thatRiyadh dismisses as baseless.

A team of investigators is preparing to go into theconsulate, where Khashoggi was last seen entering nine days ago,a Turkish security official told Reuters.

"Now, they are waiting the final permission to enter theconsulate," the official said, following an initial offer fromSaudi authorities. It was unclear when that might happen.

In the interview, Trump said the United States was workingwith Turkey and Saudi Arabia, adding, "We have investigatorsover there."

But three U.S. law enforcement sources said that becauseKhashoggi is not an American citizen and disappeared outside thecountry, the FBI has no automatic jurisdiction to get involvedin the case and could only become involved if requested by aforeign government such as Turkey.

U.S. raises case at 'highest level'

Trump told reporters a day earlier that he had raisedKhashoggi's case with Saudi Arabia "at the highest level" andmore than once in recent days, and said he and his wife expect toinvite Cengiz to the White House soon.

Asked about the invitation, Cengiz told Turkish statebroadcaster TRT on Thursday: "I am not thinking anything on thissubject at the moment."

In an op-ed in the Washington Post on Tuesday, she imploredthe president and his wifeto "help shed light on Jamal'sdisappearance."

Trump made Saudi Arabia the first stop on his first foreigntrip as president in May 2017, but in recent weeks has appearedto sour a bit on Riyadh, complaining directly to King Salmanabout the cost of American support for the Saudi military andfor OPEC oil price increases.

Turkey 'investigating all aspects'

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said his country wasworried about Khashoggi's disappearance and cannot remainsilent, in comments quoted by Hurriyet newspaper on Thursday.

"We are investigating all aspects of the event. It is notpossible for us to remain silent regarding such an occurrence,because it is not a common occurrence," he said.

He also questioned assertions by Saudi authorities that theconsulate does not have footage of Khashoggi leaving thebuilding as the mission's security cameras only provide livefootage and do not record images.

"Is it possible for there to be no camera systems at theSaudi Arabia consulate, where the event took place?," Erdogansaid.

Focus on intelligence team

Pro-government Turkish daily Sabah on Wednesday publishedpreliminary evidence from investigators it said identified a15-member Saudi intelligence team involved in Khashoggi'sdisappearance.

One is a forensic expert who has worked at the Saudi Interior Ministry for 20 years, according to a LinkedIn profile.Other names and photos match officers in the Saudi Army and AirForce, as identified by previous Saudi media reports and in onecase a Facebook profile.

The Saudi Consulate referred Reuters to authorities inRiyadh who have not responded to questions about the 15 Saudis,who Sabah said travelled on diplomatic passports, arriving inIstanbul hours before Khashoggi disappeared.

Turkish police have released images of a black van taken fromlanewaycameras as part of the search for JamalKhashoggi:

Turkish police investigating black van in case of missing Saudi journalist

6 years ago

Duration 0:51

Police have released images from laneway cameras as part of the search for Jamal Khashoggi

Khashoggi's disappearance is likely to further deependivisions between Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Relations werealready strained after Turkey sent troops to the Gulf state ofQatar last year in a show of support after its Gulf neighbours,including Saudi Arabia, imposed an embargo on Doha.

The incident has been largely absent from Saudi media, buton Thursday Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq al Awsat cited anunnamed source who said the kingdom was being targeted by "thosewho try to exploit the reality of the disappearance."

Erdogan, whose AK Party is rooted in political Islam, alsosupported a government in Egypt led by the Muslim Brotherhood,which Saudi Arabia has designated a terrorist movement.

Earlier this year,KhashoggitoldCBC'sThe National there is "no room for critical dissent"in Saudi Arabia.

Turkey investigates missing journalist

6 years ago

Duration 1:14

Self-exiled Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi said earlier this year that the Saudi government has been moving toward nationalist radicalism.

With files from The Associated Press