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Donald Trump has ranged himself against his own intelligence community, disputing that the CIA has “concluded” that Mohammed bin Salman was responsible for the death of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to The Guardian.

The president spoke a week after the Washington Post first reported that the agency had assessed that the Saudi crown prince did order the murder.

Khashoggi, a Saudi national, US resident and Post columnist, went missing after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on 2 October. He is believed to have been killed and dismembered. His body has not been found.

Prince Mohammed, Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, has denied any involvement in or knowledge of the murder. After offering numerous contradictory explanations, Riyadh said last week Khashoggi was killed and his body dismembered when “negotiations” to persuade him to return to Saudi Arabia failed.
“They didn’t conclude,” Trump insisted, asked about the CIA report when peaking to reporters at Mar-a-Lago in Florida. “No no, they didn’t conclude. I’m sorry. No they didn’t conclude. They did not come to a conclusion. They have feelings certain ways. I have the report … they have not concluded, I don’t know if anyone’s going to be able to conclude the crown prince did it.

“I will say this: I don’t know, I don’t know. But whether he did or whether he didn’t, he denies it vehemently. His father denies it, the king, vehemently. The CIA doesn’t say they did it, they do point out certain things and in pointing out those things you can conclude that maybe he did or maybe he didn’t.”
Trump said media were guilty of “false reporting” on the issue, and claimed the CIA had said Prince Mohammed “might have done it, which is a big difference”.