Trump Bragged About Protecting Saudi Crown Prince After Khashoggi Murder, Woodward Reports

A new report from Business Insider says Trump told Woodward he “saved” Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman

donald trump mohammed bin salman
Photo credit: Getty Images

President Donald Trump told Bob Woodward he “saved” Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the aftermath of the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, according to Business Insider.

Business Insider obtained a copy of Woodward’s forthcoming book, “Rage,” and reported Thursday that Trump said during one of his interviews for the book, “I saved his ass. I was able to get Congress to leave him alone. I was able to get them to stop.”

Shortly after Khashoggi, a columnist for the Washington Post, was killed and dismembered at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in October of 2018, the CIA concluded the crown prince himself ordered the assassination.

When Woodward first questioned Trump about the killing, pointing out that “people at the Washington Post” — where he is now an associate editor — were “upset” about it, the president redirected: “Yeah, but Iran is killing 36 people a day, so –”

Woodward interrupted and asked again about Khashoggi.

Referring to the crown prince, Trump said, according to the report, “He will always say that he didn’t do it. He says that to everybody, and frankly I’m happy that he says that. But he will say that to you, he will say that to Congress, and he will say that to everybody. He’s never said he did it.”

When pressed by Woodward on whether he personally believed bin Salman, Trump replied by telling the veteran journalist how much Saudi Arabia spends on American products, saying, “He says very strongly that he didn’t do it. Bob, they spent $400 billion over a fairly short period of time.”

John Haltiwanger, one of the Business Insider reporters who secured the book and published Thursday’s revelation, tweeted a photo of the page in question. “Rage” comes out Tuesday.

https://twitter.com/jchaltiwanger/status/1304123850607792129

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.