White House working as Saudi prince's PR firm: US senator

White House working as Saudi prince's PR firm: US senator
US Republican Senator Bob Corker slammed Donald Trump's statement of support for Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, saying the White House is effectively conducting public relations for Riyadh's crown prince.

3 min read
21 November, 2018
The remarks were made in response to comments by US President Donald Trump [Getty]
A Republican US senator slammed Donald Trump's statement of support for Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, saying the White House is effectively conducting public relations for Riyadh's crown prince.

Senator Bob Corker expressed his shock surrounding the killing of Jamal Khashoggi and subsequent statements issued by the US president, saying "I never thought I'd see the day a White House would moonlight as a public relations firm for the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia," Corker tweeted.

Two other senators from Trump's party also took aim at the president's statement.

"'Great allies' don't plot the murder of journalists, Mr. President. 'Great allies' don't lure their own citizens into a trap, then kill them," Senator Jeff Flake wrote on Twitter.

"I'm pretty sure this statement is Saudi Arabia First, not America First," tweeted Senator Rand Paul, referring to a phrase Trump used in the statement.

Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi - a US resident - was murdered on October 2 in Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul, where he had gone to obtain paperwork for his upcoming marriage.

Mohammed bin Salman has been accused of orchestrating the killing of the dissident journalist but Trump vowed to stick by Saudi Arabia even while admitting the kingdom's de facto ruler may have been behind the brutal murder.

On Tuesday, Trump said that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman could have had "knowledge" of Jamal Khashoggi's murder - the closest the American leader has come yet to blaming the powerful royal for the journalist's killing.

But he pledged that last month's brutal killing of the journalist by Saudi operatives would not derail the US-Saudi relationship, even if Prince Mohammed bin Salman were found to bear responsibility.

"It could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event - maybe he did and maybe he didn't!" Trump said in a statement.

"We may never know all of the facts surrounding the murder of Mr Jamal Khashoggi. In any case, our relationship is with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," he said. 

"The United States intends to remain a steadfast partner of Saudi Arabia."

Earlier, a US official has said it is "blindingly obvious" that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, in the latest development implicating the powerful royal.

"The idea that it goes all the way to the top is blindingly obvious," the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, was quoted as saying in comments to ABC News.

The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) concluded last week that the crown prince was behind the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, US media reported.

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said on Tuesday that claims by the CIA that Prince Mohammed ordered the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi were false.

After persistent denials and numerous contradictory explanations, Riyadh finally admitted Khashoggi was killed in the consulate and his body was dismembered.

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