Last Updated Oct 18, 2018 11:24 AM EDT
President Trump met with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the White House Thursday, after Pompeo returned Wednesday night from a whirlwind trip to Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
Pompeo, speaking to reporters after his meeting, said he told the president to give the Saudis a few more days to complete their investigation.
“I told President Trump this morning that we ought to give them a few more days to complete that so that we too have a complete understanding of the facts surrounding that at which point we can make decisions about how or if the United States should respond to the incident surrounding Mr. Khashoggi,” Pompeo said.
Mr. Trump sent the secretary of state to speak with the Saudis and Turks about the disappearance of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Turkey earlier this month. Mr. Trump and Pompeo have been reluctant to criticize Saudi Arabia, and Mr. Trump has repeatedly emphasized the importance of the Saudi relationship for the U.S. economy. Pompeo pushed back against the assertion Thursday that he is giving the Saudis the benefit of the doubt.
“I keep hearing that we’re giving them some benefit of the doubt,” Pompeo said. “They’re going to do an investigation. And when the investigation comes out we’ll evaluate it. It’s not about benefit of the doubt, it’s that it’s — reasonable to give them a handful of days more to complete it so they get it right.”
The president and Pompeo have said they want to wait until the Saudis and Turks conclude their investigations into what happened to the journalist.
Mr. Trump has claimed that he has no financial interests in Saudi Arabia, although he boasted during the campaign that he likes the Saudis and they’ve spent millions on his apartments.
“Saudi Arabia, I get along with all of them,” Mr. Trump said at a rally in 2015. “They buy apartments from me. They spend $40 million, $50 million. Am I supposed to dislike them? I like them very much.”
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