President Donald Trump said Monday that he was not satisfied with Saudi Arabia’s explanation for the alleged murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
“I am not satisfied with what I’ve heard,” he told reporters standing nearby Marine 1, a 180 degree turn since he said Friday that he thought the Saudi explanation was credible.
Trump also continued to lie about the mostly unfilled $110 billion bundle of prospective and offered arms sales to Saudi Arabia, which he’s cited as reason enough to avoid damaging the United States’ diplomatic relationship with the kingdom.
“I don’t want to lose all of that investment that’s being made in our country, I don’t want to lose a million jobs, I don’t want to lose $110 billion, in terms of of investment, but it’s really $450 billion if you include other than military, so that’s very important, but we’re going to get to the bottom of it,” he said.
As the Toronto Star’s Daniel Dale has pointed out, Trump has cited ever-increasing numbers of jobs he’s claimed will be created by weaponry sales to Saudi Arabia.
