News - Middle East: US President Donald Trump has touched off renewed criticism after downplaying the 2018 murder of renowned and outspoken Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi while hosting the kingdom’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Oval Office.

On Tuesday, Trump defended the royal when asked about CIA findings that the latter approved the operation that resulted in Khashoggi’s death and dismemberment inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul that year.

“You’re mentioning somebody that was extremely controversial. A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman… things happen,” he added in remarks denounced by human rights campaigners for seeking to validate the foul play and portray it as deserved comeuppance.

“But he knew nothing about it,” the US president added, apparently referring to bin Salman.

The latter comments sidelined the crown prince’s own admission in 2019, during which he said, “I take full responsibility as a leader in Saudi Arabia, especially since it was committed by individuals working for the Saudi government.”

Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and veteran Saudi commentator, was widely regarded by rights groups as a leading voice for reform and free expression in the Arab world.

Advocates said Trump’s remarks amounted to an attempt to blur responsibility for a killing the CIA has assessed could not have occurred without high-level authorization. They also said the comments risked normalizing impunity.

The crown prince repeated earlier descriptions of the killing as “heinous” and a “huge mistake,” saying Riyadh had improved its internal procedures to prevent similar incidents.

Trump, meanwhile, rejected questions over potential conflicts of interest stemming from his family’s business ties to Saudi Arabia, saying he “left that success behind” when he entered office.

Observers, however, said Washington’s attitude towards Riyadh suggests otherwise.

They cited Trump White House’s leaving the kingdom’s drawn-out record of repeatedly deadly instances of domestic repression out of the bilateral economic and military transactions.

Source: Press TV