Senior US Donald Trump’s advisor Jared Kushner has said that the White House is still in the fact-finding phase regarding Riyadh’s account of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s death, adding that the president and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would decide on a course of action after the facts emerge.
Earlier, sources speaking to US media said that President Trump was “annoyed” for being “blindsided” by his son-in-law’s “misjudgment” of the Khashoggi case, and had sidelined Kushner on Saudi Arabia policy due to his close relationship and private correspondence with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
“Right now as an administration, we’re more in the fact-finding phase, and we’re obviously getting as many facts as we can from the different places, and then we’ll determine which facts are credible. After that the president and the secretary of state will determine what we need to be credible and what actions we think we should take,” Kushner said, speaking to CNN on Monday.
Riyadh remains a critical US partner and ally, with President Trump remaining focused on US interests, Kushner added.
Kushner said that he has told Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to be transparent and to take the situation surrounding Khashoggi’s death “very seriously.”
Source: Sputnik
