The Washington Post’s Editorial Board blasted President Donald Trump for his Tuesday’s speech in which he “sidestepped a CIA finding that the Saudi crown prince was behind the killing; casually slandered Mr. Khashoggi,” adding that he repeated gross falsehoods and exaggerations about the benefits of the U.S. alliance with the kingdom.
“Mr. Trump has betrayed American values in service to what already was a bad bet on the 33-year-old prince (Mohammad bin Salman).”
In an article, The Washington Post added that it reported Friday that the CIA has concluded with “high confidence” — a rating it does not apply lightly — that Mohammed bin Salman ordered the murder of Mr. Khashoggi, who while living in self-imposed exile in Virginia, wrote columns for The Post that were moderately critical of the crown prince.
“In fact, the truth about Mr. Khashoggi’s death is not only knowable but largely known. Audio recordings in the CIA’s possession record his actual killing as well as phone calls from the hit team to Mohammad bin Salman’s close aides. Five members of the team have been identified as probable members of the crown prince’s personal security team.”
“While discounting these facts, Mr. Trump bases his continued backing for the regime on false claims, including his thoroughly debunked boast that Saudi Arabia will ‘spend and invest $450 billion’ in the United States. He says the kingdom has ‘been very responsive to my requests to keeping oil prices at reasonable levels,’ though Riyadh is reportedly preparing to cut production to raise prices.”
Source: The Washington Post
