Saudi Arabia :In an exclamation point-laden statement released by the White House on 20 November 2018, President Donald Trump contradicted a reported Central Intelligence Agency finding that Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman not only knew about, but actually ordered the assassination of critic and Washington Post columnist Jamal Kashoggi. Maybe bin Salman did know about it, the statement read, “and maybe he didn’t!”
As President Trump’s financial ties to influential Saudi oligarchs were a topic of intense scrutiny in light of the Kashoggi killing, so too were his dealings with wealthy Russian figures, relationships that garnered interest in light of an ongoing Special Counsel-led investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
