Trump continues to maneuver in his quest to protect the Saudi crown prince in Khashoggi death case

US President Donald Trump said the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi would not derail relations between Washington and Riyadh.

“We may never know the facts surrounding the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, and in any case our relations are with Saudi Arabia”.

Trump said in a statement.

“It is very likely that the Crown Prince is aware of this tragic incident, and the United States intends to remain a firm partner of Saudi Arabia”.

Trump confirmed that US intelligence services continue to assess information about Khashoggi’s death and “it may be very likely” that the Crown Prince “had knowledge of this tragic incident”.

“Congress is free to go in a different direction on Saudi Arabia”, he said, but said he would study only ideas that are consistent with US security, saying that the US’s cancellation of defense contracts with Saudi Arabia would benefit Russia and China.

Just hours before US President Donald Trump received the CIA report on the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, leaks about the report began.

The US ABC channel reported according to an official at the US state department “that is very clear that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is the one who ordered the killing of Khashoggi”.

An official at the US state department, which the ABC channel, said was briefed on the CIA report, said “there is clear evidence that senior officials in Saudi Arabia are involved”, adding that “there is a great consensus that the Saudi leadership is involved”.

The Washington Post, for its part, said that Trump is exaggerating in giving importance to Saudi Arabia, which gets more from the United States than it does, adding that the Saudi Crown Prince has a record of recklessness and Trump management does not need, noting that the latter came too close to the edge of the abyss many times and eventually fell.

Trump was mistaken about giving Saudi Arabia value because it was more than useless in working against Iran.

The newspaper pointed out that it is not clear when the future of the political future of Trump, but approached with the end of the midterm elections.

The Washington Post said, that the Saudi crown prince had imprisoned dozens of Saudis who supported reform, including women who defended the right to leadership, pointing out that the intervention of Mohammed bin Salman in Yemen led to a humanitarian disaster there while strengthening the position of Iran.

The Washington Post continues saying that there is no great presence of Saudi Arabia in Syria, while Tehran has a large military presence there.

Congress draws up a series of responses to ban Bin Salman’s exclusion from Khashoggi’s case.

In the context of the announcement of the Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations in the US Congress, Republican Senator Bob Korker that he and his colleagues are considering the formulation of a series of responses to strengthen pressure on the US position if the Crown Prince was excluded from responsibility in the administration’s report on the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

In turn, US Democratic Senator Ron Wyden called on US intelligence officials to publish a summary of their findings on Khashoggi’s killing.

He called on heads of the intelligence services to provide a public assessment of the American people and Congress about who ordered the killing of Khashoggi.

“It is very clear that bin Salman is the one who ordered the killing of Khashoggi”, ABC News quoted an official at the State Department as briefing the CIA report.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Laudrian announced that his country would soon take a decision on imposing sanctions on Saudi Arabia in connection with the Khashoggi murder.

In a radio interview, Laudrian stressed his country’s desire to expose the crime in all its dimensions, as well as those responsible for it, pointing out that his country is working with Germany in this regard.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al Jubeir said in an interview with Al Sharq Al Awsat newspaper that “US intelligence allegations that the Saudi crown prince ordered the killing of Khashoggi were totally baseless and Saudi Arabia categorically rejected them”.

Al Jubair added that “Ankara assured Riyadh that the statements of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which said that the killing of Khashoggi was ordered by the highest levels of Saudi leadership is not intended by the Crown Prince”, according to Al Jubair.

Al Jubeir confirmed that “the leadership of the Kingdom represented by King Salman and the Crown Prince is a red line, and we will not allow attempts to harm our leadership or to undermine it from any party, under any pretext.

The Saudi foreign minister’s comments to the newspaper came in response to media reports that the US intelligence assessment is that the crown prince issued the order.

Al Jubeir said the reports were “leaks that were not officially announced, and I noticed that they are based on an assessment, not conclusive evidence”.

Meanwhile, Reuters quoted three sources described by the Saudi royal court as saying members of the royal family sought to prevent the crown prince from taking over the throne after Khashoggi’s death.

The sources told Reuters dozens of princes wanted to see a change in the succession line, but they would not act as long as King Salman survived.

They are discussing the possibility of installing Prince Ahmed bin Abdul Aziz’s brother as successor to the king, according to Reuters.

The Saudi prosecution had demanded the execution of six people who participated in the decision and implementation of the killing Khashoggi.

Turkish newspaper Yeni Shafak said Ankara had evidence of Saudi Crown Prince involvement in Khashoggi’s murder and could not escape responsibility.

She pointed out that the audio recordings owned by Ankara on the murder of Khashoggi may ignite a new crime in a large area include Mohammed bin Salman and Mohammed bin Zayed and Trump and Kushner and Al Sisi.

The newspaper stressed that “many parts and important and influential events that are the basis of the scheme of killing Khashoggi transferred to the public opinion previously without details”.