US President Donald Trump defended his position on the relationship with Saudi Arabia, despite the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, and said that without Saudi Arabia, Israel would have been in serious trouble.
At the same time, Trump played down the CIA's assessment of Khashoggi's death, saying the assessment had two different sides, and he did not say the Saudi crown prince ordered Khashoggi's death.
Trump told reporters in his Florida resort on Thursday that the "ugly world" was responsible for Khashoggi's murder and that the CIA's assessment of the case "points to things one can conclude that the Saudi crown prince may have done, perhaps not "He said.
"The CIA assessment carries two different faces, and as I said, perhaps it was done by the Saudi crown prince and maybe not." Trump added that he hated "this crime and the cover-up, and the Saudi Crown Prince also hates it more than I do."
"If we follow certain criteria, we will have no allies"
Trump defended his position, which maintains close ties with Saudi Arabia, despite Khashoggi's assassination. "Without Saudi Arabia, Israel would have been in great trouble," he said.
"Saudi Arabia is an important ally, and if we follow certain criteria, we will have allies from almost every country," he said.
"We have hundreds of thousands of jobs. Do they really want me to give up hundreds of thousands of jobs?" He said.
"The lack of clarity in the CIA assessment has led to erroneous media reports about the role of Saudi Crown Prince in the assassination of Khashoggi," he said.
The world's most prominent media published a week ago the CIA's assessment of the Khashoggi assassination, saying that after assessing the information available to it, the agency saw Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as ordering Khashoggi's death.