After a CIA briefing Saturday, President Donald Trump said a report next week would put to rest who is to blame for the brutal killing and dismemberment of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
A full report on Khashoggi's killing will address who ordered the killing and who carried it out, said the president, who is surveying the California wildfire damage.
"It’s a horrible thing that took place, the killing of a journalist. A very, very bad situation. Khashoggi. And somebody who was respected," Trump said after landing in Malibu, California. "It should never have happened. And we’ll be having a very full report over the next two days, probably Monday or Tuesday.”
Trump said the CIA had not "assessed anything yet," a statement appearing to conflict with reports that the intelligence agency concluded Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered Khashoggi's murder. Trump when asked about the reports, said it was "possible" the crown prince was involved but he wanted to wait for a complete assessment.
Meanwhile, the United States has sanctioned 17 individuals who "we know for a fact were involved. And we’re being very tough on a lot of people."
The CIA reached its conclusions on intelligence, including phone calls between the crown prince's brother, Khalid bin Salman, the Saudi ambassador to the United States, and Khashoggi, The Washington Post reported, citing unnamed officials.
Evidence from the CIA shows that Khalid told Khashoggi he should visit the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, where Khashoggi was killed and dismembered, The Post reported.
Khalid denied having recent communications with Khashoggi, saying in a statement from an embassy spokesperson that the last time he had communicated with the columnist was in October of 2017.
"The claims in this purported assessment (are) false," the statement read. "We have and continue to hear various theories without seeing the primary basis for these speculations."
Khashoggi, a Saudi who lived in the U.S. and was a fierce critic of the royal family, was killed Oct. 2 after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
When Khashoggi disappeared, Saudi government officials offered a wide array of explanations, first saying they had no idea what happened to him, then explaining he was killed in a scuffle during an interrogation gone wrong.
The explanation continues to change. On Thursday, a Saudi prosecutor examining the case said a team of 15 Saudi officials planned Khashoggi's death and he was injected with a drug that led to an overdose.
The Saudi government blames a rogue group of officials for the killing and has attempted to distance the royal family from the killing.
The Trump administration this week sanctioned those individuals for their alleged role in the death, but the intelligence officials’ conclusion bolsters efforts in Congress for a harsher U.S. response.
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