Saudi Leadership Asserts Plausible Deniability In Khashoggi Disappearance As Pompeo Arrives in Riyadh
By Gary Raynaldo DIPLOMATIC TIMES
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Tuesday in Riyadh to discuss the disappearance of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi. President Trump dispatched Pompeo to Saudi Arabia’s capital city to meet with Riyadh’s top leadership to try to get answers about the fate of Khashoggi, who last seen two weeks ago entering Riyadh’s consulate in Istanbul. However, Pompeo was given firm denials by Saudi Arabia’s King and Crown Prince, and the fate of Khashoggi remains a mystery. In a statement issued to the press, Pompeo said:
“On Sunday, President Donald J. Trump directed me to travel to Saudi Arabia to impress upon Saudi Arabia’s leadership that it is essential to determine what happened to Jamal Khashoggi. Today, I met with King Salman, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Foreign Minister al-Jubeir and did just that,” Sec. of State Pompeo stated.
“During each of today’s meetings the Saudi leadership strongly denied any knowledge of what took place in their consulate in Istanbul.”
Saudi Crown Prince Also Repeats Denial Of Any Involvement To President Trump
Over the weekend, President Trump was talking tough and threatened Riyadh with “severe punishment” if the Kingdom were found to be involved in the killing of a prominent critic of the government. But on Monday, the American President backed off the threats, and suggested that “rouge killers”may be involved in the disappearance of Khashoggi. On Tuesday as Pompeo was in Riyadh sitting down with the Saudi King and Crown Prince, Trump tweeted an apparent show of support the King’s denial of any involvement in the killing of Khashoggi.
“Just spoke with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia who totally denied any knowledge of what took place in their Turkish Consulate,” Trump tweeted, adding the call took place while Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was meeting with the crown prince in Riyadh. “[The crown prince] told me that he has already started, and will rapidly expand, a full and complete investigation into this matter,” Trump wrote, as reported in the Washington Times.
