President Donald Trump’s son Eric Trump had a warning for Saudi Arabia should the country be responsible for the potential murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, saying its possible role could set the kingdom back five years.
“The amount that this is going to cost Saudi Arabia is not even quantifiable,” Trump said Friday on Fox News’s “Outnumbered,” as he was asked to answer whether the United States had a responsibility as the leader of the free world to stand up against a human rights violation of this kind.
Trump cited Saudi Arabia’s upcoming Future Investment Initiative conference, nicknamed “Davos in the Desert,” saying all the CEOs of major banks and companies pulling out of the event over Khashoggi’s disappearance would cost Saudi Arabia financially.
“You have every single CEO of these major banks who were going to go over there — they won’t go,” he said.
“This sets a country back five years. You’re executing — potentially — journalists. This sets them back years and years and this a major blight.”
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The president’s son similarly voiced his concern Thursday on “Fox & Friends” because Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor who had been living in the U.S. in self-imposed exile for the past year, might have been murdered for his views.
“It’s a horrible situation,” Trump said. “You can’t go around — foreign countries can’t go around killing journalists.” (RELATED: Eric Trump Condemns Alleged Death Of Jamal Khashoggi)
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with King Salman and his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in Riyadh Tuesday to discuss Khashoggi’s disappearance, but Pompeo said he and the Saudi leaders did not want to talk about facts of the case and continued to deny any involvement, as Saudi officials wanted time for the investigation to be completed.
Multiple suspects Turkish investigators identified as being present at the consulate on the day Khashoggi went missing reportedly have direct or close ties to the crown prince, according to a New York Times report.
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