JEDDAH: The US is still in the “fact-finding phase” over the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner said on Monday.
“We’re getting as many facts as we can,” Kushner told CNN, “then we’ll determine which facts are credible.”
Kushner said it was important to maintain the US-Saudi alliance.
“We have to be able to work with our allies, and Saudi Arabia has, I think, been a very strong ally in terms of pushing back on Iran’s aggression.
“A lot of the reforms they’ve been making there to help us track down terror financing and to push back against the people who are perverting the religion, have been very historic over the last year.
“So we’re hopeful we can keep pushing forward with a lot of the initiatives that further American interests and push back Iran’s aggression, so we’re going to stay focused on that.”
Khashoggi, a Saudi citizen who lived in the US, was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, after he visited to complete paperwork related to his divorce.
Eighteen Saudis have been arrested in connection with the murder, which Saudi authorities have described as a “rogue operation” that went wrong.
Turkey said on Monday it did not want to harm its relationship with Saudi Arabia over the Khashoggi case.
“Saudi Arabia is for us an important country, a brotherly and friendly country. We have many partnerships and we would not want these to be damaged,” presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said.
“Rather than making it an issue between the two countries, there has been a determination for the incident to be brought to light.”
