Khashoggi Murder and Trump's Defense of Saudi Arabia

The Murder

On October 2, 2018, Jamal Khashoggi, a prominent Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist who had become a critic of the Saudi government, walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, to obtain documents for his upcoming marriage. He never walked out. Turkish intelligence determined that a 15-member Saudi hit squad had been waiting inside. Khashoggi was killed within minutes and his body was dismembered with a bone saw. Turkish officials shared audio recordings of the killing with U.S. and other intelligence agencies.

Khashoggi was a U.S. resident who lived in Virginia and wrote for one of America’s most prominent newspapers. His murder inside a diplomatic facility represented an extraordinary act of state-sponsored assassination against a journalist.

The Cover-Up and Confirmation

Saudi Arabia initially denied any knowledge of Khashoggi’s fate, then offered a shifting series of explanations — from claiming he had left the consulate alive, to admitting he died in a “fistfight,” to acknowledging the killing was premeditated but carried out by rogue operatives acting without authorization from the crown prince. Each story was less credible than the last.

In November 2018, the CIA concluded with high confidence that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known as MBS, had personally ordered Khashoggi’s assassination. The assessment was based on intercepts of communications, the crown prince’s tight control over the Saudi government, and the fact that the hit squad included members of his personal security detail.

Trump’s Defense of Saudi Arabia

Despite the CIA’s finding, Trump refused to hold the crown prince accountable. On November 20, 2018, Trump issued an extraordinary written statement that read more like a Saudi press release than an official U.S. government communication. Beginning with the exclamatory phrase “America First!”, the statement acknowledged that “it could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event” but declared that “the United States intends to remain a steadfast partner of Saudi Arabia.”

Trump emphasized the value of Saudi arms purchases and oil production, framing the relationship in purely transactional terms. “After my heavily negotiated trip to Saudi Arabia last year, the Kingdom agreed to spend and invest $450 billion in the United States,” he wrote. When asked by reporters about the CIA’s conclusion, Trump replied, “Maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!” — referring to whether MBS ordered the killing.

The Larger Significance

Trump’s handling of the Khashoggi affair sent a chilling message to autocrats worldwide: the murder of a journalist and U.S. resident would carry no meaningful consequences from the United States if the perpetrator was a useful ally. Members of Congress from both parties were outraged. The Senate voted to end U.S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen and passed a resolution holding MBS responsible for the murder, but Trump vetoed the measures. The episode became a defining example of Trump’s willingness to sacrifice democratic values and human rights for the sake of transactional relationships with authoritarian leaders.