Trump Brushes Off Jamal Khashoggi Assassination in Meeting with Saudi Crown Prince: ‘Things Happen’

President Trump on Tuesday said Jamal Khashoggi was “extremely controversial” and claimed Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman “knew nothing” about his murder, contradicting the conclusion reached by U.S. intelligence services which found that Salman ordered the late Washington Post columnists’s brutal assassination.

An ABC journalist asked Trump about Khashoggi’s assassination on Tuesday as the president met with bin Salman in the Oval Office.

Trump said bin Salman has done a “phenomenal job.”

“You’re mentioning somebody that was extremely controversial,” the president said of 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,” he added. “But [bin Salman] knew nothing about it and we can leave it at that. You don’t have to embarrass our guest by asking a question like that.” 

Khashoggi was a legal permanent resident of Virginia who wrote critically of the Saudi government in the pages of the Washington Post.

While Trump claimed the crown prince “knew nothing” about his assassination, a 2021 U.S. intelligence report found bin Salman approved the 2018 murder himself. The report, which was released under the Biden administration, found an elite team of operatives helped carry out the brutal killing — a team that reported directly to bin Salman. Saudi officials lured Khashoggi to their consulate in Istanbul and ultimately dismembered his body with a bone saw.

The report said bin Salman viewed Khashoggi as a threat and “broadly supported using violent measures if necessary to silence him.”

At the time of the report’s release, the Saudi government dismissed its findings as a “negative, false and unacceptable assessment” about its leaders.

“It is truly unfortunate that this report, with its unjustified and inaccurate conclusions, is issued while the kingdom had clearly denounced this heinous crime,” the statement said. It added that the Saudi government had “taken steps” to prevent a repeat of the killing, including the prosecution of eight people who were involved with the heinous crime.

Meanwhile on Tuesday, the ABC journalist had also mentioned that families of victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks are “furious” the crown prince is in the Oval Office. The suicide-hijacking attacks were directly carried out by 19 jihadists, 15 of whom were nationals of Saudi Arabia.

Earlier this year, a federal judge in New York ruled that the victims’ families can bring a civil lawsuit against Saudi Arabia claiming the kingdom sponsored, aided and supported the al-Qaeda hijackers. U.S. District Judge George Daniels ruled in favor of the families after they provided what he called “reasonable evidence” that two Saudi citizens were sent by their government to the U.S. to assist the hijackers and that the kingdom failed to provide sufficient evidence to the contrary.

9/11 Justice, a grassroots organization representing the families of the victims of the terrorist attacks, said in a statement on Tuesday that it is “imperative the Saudi government officials named by the court who conspired with the 9/11 hijackers be brought to the United States to face justice.”

The group’s president, Brett Eagleson, reacted to bin Salman’s remarks in which he invoked Osama bin Laden as the obstacle to stronger U.S.-Saudi relations.

“The Saudi crown prince invoking Osama bin Laden this afternoon in the White House does not change the fact that a federal judge in New York ruled a few short months ago that Saudi Arabia must stand trial for its role in the 9/11 terrorist attacks that murdered 3,000 of our loved ones,” Eagleson said in a statement. “The facts found by the court point to overwhelming evidence of Saudi government support for the 9/11 plot, and our nearly 25-year fight for justice. While we recognize the value of a strong U.S.–Saudi relationship moving forward, it is imperative the Saudi government officials named by the court who conspired with the 9/11 hijackers be brought to the United States to face justice.”

Bin Salman on Tuesday said he feels “painful” about the families of the victims and also said of Khashoggi that it is “painful” to hear of anyone losing their life “for no real purpose.”

He claimed the “right steps” were taken during the investigation and says the system has been improved “to ensure nothing happens like that [again.]”

Trump, for his part, grew frustrated with the ABC reporter, who asked questions about both Khashoggi and deceased sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

“I think the license should be taken away from ABC because your news is so fake, and it’s so wrong, and we have a great commissioner — the chairman who should look at that,” Trump said.

The president’s threat comes at a time of increased pressure on broadcasters from the Federal Communications Commission.

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said recently as he worked to push ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel off the air for his false statements about conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s murder. “These companies can find ways to change conduct and take actions on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

The president on Tuesday also touted his close relationship with Saudi Arabia, calling the ties between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia “top of the line.” He said the country trusts the U.S. and “we trust them.”

He also said there was not a great relationship between Saudi Arabia and the Biden or Obama administrations.