Trump says 'no reason' for him to hear Khashoggi death tape
Washington, Nov 19 : President Donald Trump said there is no reason for him to listen to a recording of the "very violent, very vicious" killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which has put him in a diplomatic bind: how to admonish Riyadh for the slaying yet maintain strong ties with a close ally.
Trump, in an interview that aired Sunday, made clear that the audio recording, supplied by the Turkish government, would not affect his response to the October 2 killing of Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post who had been critical of the Saudi royal family.
"It's a suffering tape, it's a terrible tape. I've been fully briefed on it, there's no reason for me to hear it," Trump said in the interview with "Fox News Sunday."
''I know everything that went on in the tape without having to hear it." On Saturday, Trump said his administration will "be having a very full report over the next two days, probably Monday or Tuesday."
He said the report will include "who did it." It was unclear if the report would be made public.
American intelligence agencies have concluded that the crown prince ordered the killing in the Saudi Consulate in Turkey, according to a US official familiar with the assessment. The official was not authorised to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Others familiar with the case caution that while it's likely the crown prince was involved in the death, there continue to be questions about what role he played.
Trump noted to "Fox News Sunday" that the crown prince has repeatedly denied being involved in the killing inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.
"Will anybody really know?" Trump asked. "At the same time, we do have an ally, and I want to stick with an ally that in many ways has been very good."
A Republican member of the Senate intelligence committee said that so far, there is no "smoking gun" linking the crown prince to the killing.
Sen Roy Blunt of Missouri, who has received a confidential intelligence briefing on the matter, told ABC that "it's hard to imagine" that the crown prince didn't know about the killing, but he said, "I don't know that we absolutely know that yet."
He said that Congress will await the Trump administration's report in the next two days and that the US will need to be clear about the ramifications of sanctions, given Saudi Arabia's strategic role in the Middle East.
For his part, Sen Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally, said the crown prince has been a "wrecking ball" in the relationship between the US and Saudi Arabia.
"I hate to say that because I had a lot of hope for him being the reformer that Saudi Arabia needs, but that ship has sailed as far as Lindsey Graham's concerned," the South Carolina Republican told NBC's "Meet the Press."
"I have no intention of working with him ever again," said Graham, who is in line to be the next chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Intelligence officials have been providing information to Trump for weeks about the death, and he was briefed again by phone Saturday by CIA Director Gina Haspel and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as he flew to California.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders provided no details of his call but said the president has confidence in the CIA.
"The United States government is determined to hold all those responsible for the killing of Jamal Khashoggi accountable," the State Department said in a statement.
"Recent reports indicating that the US government has made a final conclusion are inaccurate. There remain numerous unanswered questions with respect to the murder of Mr Khashoggi."
The statement added: "The US government has taken decisive measures against the individuals responsible, including visa and sanctions actions. We will continue to explore additional measures to hold those accountable who planned, led and were connected to the murder. And, we will do that while maintaining the important strategic relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia."
Before his call on Air Force One, Trump told reporters that when it came to the crown prince, "as of this moment we were told that he did not play a role. We're going to have to find out what they have to say."
That echoed remarks by national security adviser John Bolton, who said earlier this week that people who have listened to an audio recording of the killing do not think it implicates the crown prince.
Trump has called the killing a botched operation that was carried out very poorly and has said "the cover-up was one of the worst cover-ups in the history of cover-ups."
But he has resisted calls to cut off arms sales to the kingdom and has been reluctant to antagonise the Saudi rulers. Trump considers the Saudis vital allies in his Mideast agenda.
But members of Congress are pushing Trump for a tougher response to the killing.
The administration this past week penalised 17 Saudi officials for their alleged role in the killing, but American lawmakers have called on the administration to curtail arms sales to Saudi Arabia or take other harsher punitive measures.
Turkish and Saudi authorities say Khashoggi, a Saudi who lived in the United States, was killed inside the consulate by a team from the kingdom after he went there to get marriage documents.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
