The Case of the Loss of Saudi Arabian Journalists, Trump Sent Pompeo to Meet King Salman

NEWS24.CO.ID -  US President Donald Trump said he had spoken with Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud and discussed the case of the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul.

Reporting from AFP, Trump said if King Salman had admitted to himself that he did not know about what might happen to the Saudi Arabian journalist.

"Just talked to King Salman who denied knowing what might happen to our 'Saudi Arabians'," Trump said on his Twitter account on Monday (10/15/2018).

Trump added that he would immediately send Foreign Minister Mike Pompeo to meet with the Saudi king.

President Trump has been careful in the case of the disappearance of Khashoggi, which was last seen when entering the Saudi consulate office in Istanbul, Turkey.

But the 72-year-old president threatened to impose "severe punishment" if it was proven that the Saudi journalist had been killed and his body thrown away. 

Nevertheless, Trump stressed that he would not take risks that could threaten a multibillion-dollar agreement on arms sales to the Saudi Kingdom, which he called a strategic ally in the Middle East. 

Meanwhile, Saudi officials are said to have permitted the start of the investigation and the search process by Turkish investigators to enter the consulate building in Istanbul on Monday (10/15/2018). 

Turkish diplomatic sources said, it was hoped that the search process that took part in the Saudi government could be carried out at night. 

Earlier, the Turkish police concluded that the missing Saudi journalists had been killed and their bodies mutilated before being thrown away. 

The claim is reinforced by the recognition of sound recording evidence that shows the times when Khashoggi was interrogated and killed. 

Turkey accuses the executioners of being a group of Saudi men who came and were inside the consulate in Istanbul at the same time as Khashoggi.