Trump a reluctant critic of Saudi Arabia
despite pressure to act
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[October 20, 2018]
By Steve Holland and Matt Spetalnick
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Six days after Saudi
journalist Jamal Khashoggi disappeared, U.S. President Donald Trump
tried to play down the crisis, saying "hopefully that will sort itself
out".
It did not, and on Oct. 10, amid a growing outcry, Trump’s son-in-law
Jared Kushner and national security adviser John Bolton pressed Saudi
Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, in what one U.S. official described as
a "stern" phone call, to identify who was responsible for Khashoggi's
disappearance or death.
Trump then seemed to give Saudi Arabia the benefit of the doubt,
suggesting "rogue killers" may have been to blame and criticizing a
growing view that this was a case of state murder.
He changed his tone once again late this week, raising the prospect of
sanctions against Riyadh.
But when Saudi Arabia finally admitted on Saturday that Khashoggi was
dead, saying he was killed in a fight inside the consulate, Trump said
the official explanation was "credible" even as Republican and
Democratic lawmakers responded with anger and disbelief.
Over the last two weeks, Trump has at times spoken of punishing Saudi
Arabia but appeared reluctant to follow through against a close economic
and security ally in the Middle East, a key player in ensuring the
stability of global oil markets, and a major customer of arms deals that
he says are "tremendous".
"Trump's dug himself into a hole," said Aaron David Miller, a former
Middle East adviser to both Democratic and Republican administrations.
"He will have to take some kind of action."
Behind the scenes, though, Trump's aides scrambled to craft a response,
especially as the bipartisan outcry in the Washington establishment
grew.
When news of Khashoggi's disappearance first broke, aides made clear to
White House chief of staff John Kelly that the case was not going away,
two senior White House officials said.
Kushner, who had cultivated a close personal relationship with the crown
prince, commonly known as MbS, urged Trump to act with caution to avoid
upsetting a critical strategic and economic relationship, a senior
administration official said.
Kushner was heavily involved in making Saudi Arabia Trump's first stop
on his maiden international trip as president last year.
As grim allegations emerged from Turkey about Khashoggi’s death and the
Saudis stuck to their denials, Trump felt pressure from congressional
Democrats and some of his own Republicans.
U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican close to Trump, accused MbS of
ordering Khashoggi's murder and called him a "wrecking ball"
jeopardizing relations with the United States.
When Riyadh came out with its official version of what happened inside
the consulate, Graham quickly tweeted he was "skeptical of the new Saudi
narrative".
'NOT A U.S. CITIZEN'
Trump sought to justify his muted response by pointing out the incident
occurred in Turkey and that Khashoggi, a U.S. resident and columnist for
the Washington Post, was "not a United States citizen".
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President Donald Trump talks to reporters about journalist Jamal
Khashoggi's disappearance prior to boarding Air Force One for travel
to Montana from Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, U.S., October 18,
2018. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Critics accused Trump of trying to give the Saudis diplomatic cover
and buy time for them to get their story straight, something Trump's
aides denied.
At the same time, Peter Navarro, Trump’s White House trade chief and
architect of his “Buy American” policy to ease restrictions on
foreign arms sales, was stressing the importance of Saudi weapons
deals and the implications for U.S. jobs, another administration
official told Reuters.
Trump repeatedly touted the $110 billion in weapons deals he
announced during his visit to Saudi Arabia last year, and insisted
around 500,000 U.S. jobs were at stake. Experts have dismissed the
sales and jobs numbers as highly exaggerated.
Some Trump aides raised doubts about the veracity of the Turkish
government’s leaks of what it says happened to Khashoggi.
But as the days dragged on and evidence of Khashoggi’s death
mounted, Trump's view began to shift, White House officials said.
He ordered Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to drop what he was doing
and fly to Riyadh for talks at mid-week, and was then briefed by him
at the White House on Thursday.
Critics slammed Pompeo for appearing to hold court in a festive
manner with MbS, undercutting the severity of the U.S. message.
But one senior White House official countered, saying Pompeo told
the Saudi royals that “you need to give us some legitimate
information soon, people aren’t just going to let it drag on.'”
Speaking to reporters during a trip to Arizona on Friday, Trump said
he was ready to “listen to what Congress has to say” about actions
to be taken in the Khashoggi case, yet also made clear he wanted to
continue to protect defense contracts, and U.S. jobs dependent on
them.
Congress has already triggered a mechanism for the U.S. Treasury
Department to consider human rights sanctions against Saudi Arabia
and some lawmakers have vowed to block further arms sales to Riyadh,
a move that Trump is likely to oppose.
(Reporting By Matt Spetalnick and Steve Holland, additional
reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Yara Bayoumy, Tomasz
Janowski and Angus MacSwan)
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