The White House held an impromptu press briefing Friday
evening in response to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's official announcement that
Saudi national and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi died
"in a fight" at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. This coming after two weeks of Saudi claims
that Khashoggi had left the consulate alive on October 2.
In brief prepared remarks White House Press Secretary Sarah
Huckleby Sanders expressed condolences to Mr. Khashoggi's family, then
concluded, "Let the record show that one day after President Trump stated
'It appears that Mr. Khashoggi is dead,' his instincts were proven to be
correct." When confronted by the
fact that most world leaders had come to the same conclusion two weeks ago
Sanders responded, "This isn't a president who runs with the
crowd." When befuddled journalists
asked just what that meant, Sanders pressed on: "I'm just stating facts. President Trump's instincts are
infallible. Whether it's a question of
the wisdom of giving the richest Americans a huge tax cut, trusting know-it-all
scientists about so-called global warming, risking a trade war with China, or
recognizing the death of a journalist in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, the
American people -- real Americans -- can trust President Trump."
Asked if Mr. Khashoggi's death will affect US-Saudi
relations, given the strong personal ties between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad
Bin Salman and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner, Sanders replied, "It
appears to President Trump that the Crown Prince will be cleared of any
involvement in the assass,,., um, accidental death, so he does not see any
reason why the US-Saudi partnership cannot move forward."
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