President Donald Trump called a CIA assessment accusing Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi “very premature” and said he will receive a complete report on the case in coming days.
On his trip to California, Trump said the killing “should never have happened.” The report on Tuesday, November 20, will explain who the U.S. government holds responsible for killed Khashoggi and what the overall impact of his assassination is, Trump added. It was unclear who is producing this final report.
Trump also said the CIA finding that Crown Price was responsible for the killing was “possible.” Trump made the remarks hours after the State Department said the government was still working on determining responsibility for the death of Khashoggi, a US based Washington Post columnist.
“Recent reports indicating that the US government has made a final conclusion are inaccurate,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement. “There remain numerous unanswered questions with respect to the murder of Mr. Khashoggi.“