President Donald Trump on Friday joined the State Department and Turkish Officials who are denying that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was given an audio recording of Washington Post writer Jamal Khashoggi’s alleged death, calling the ABC New report about the topic “FAKE NEWS!”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was never given or shown a Transcript or Video of the Saudi Consulate event. FAKE NEWS!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 19, 2018
Pompeo traveled to Saudi Arabia and Turkey this week to hold emergency discussions with officials over the disappearance and reported murder of Khashoggi.
After ABC News reported Friday that a Turkish source said Pompeo had listened to the recording, both Turkish officials and the U.S. State Department denied the report. Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told NBC that officials had “not given a voice recording to Pompeo or any other American official. Pompeo himself forcefully denied the report as well.
“I’ve heard no tape, I’ve seen no transcript,” Pompeo said, according to the Daily Beast. “This is a very serious matter that we’re working diligently on, and so to put out headlines that are factually false does no one any good.”
This week, Turkish officials said they had audio and video evidence to support their claims that Khashoggi was killed by Saudi officials after he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul at the beginning of the month. Officials said Khashoggi made an audio recording of his own death on his Apple Watch.