On Tuesday, President Trump made a statement regarding the alleged Saudi governmental murder of dissident Jamal Khashoggi. Khashoggi was a longtime critic of the Saudi regime; he was largely sympathetic to the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood. The Saudi government, according to the CIA, had Khashoggi murdered at the Saudi embassy in Turkey, at the specific direction of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, according to The Washington Post.
President Trump’s statement contradicts the CIA account, and seems to take at face value Saudi protestations to the contrary. But Trump also points out that the United States has geopolitical interests in alliance with Saudi Arabia, and that Khashoggi’s murder does not justify a complete reshifting of those interests in the face of increased Iranian terrorism and regional aggression.
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