During a visit to London, Pence said that if he had been President the meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman would “have gone a little different”
Donald Trump’s former Vice President Mike Pence slammed the US President for defending the Saudi Crown Prince over the murder of a US-based journalist. It comes after Trump put on a fawning display for Mohammed Bin Salman, whom the CIA said had been behind the vicious murder and dismemberment of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Sitting alongside Salman in the Oval Office – his first visit to the White House since the 2018 killing – Trump said: “Things happen. He knew nothing about it.”
Pence was asked about the remarks following a speech to the Chatham House Think Tank in London. Asked whether he agreed with Trump’s claim, Pence said: “I would not have said that. Beyond that…I really can’t speak to intelligence I was exposed to. What I can tell you is I would not have made that statement.” He acknowledged the US relationship with Saudi Arabia was a “very important one to move forward on”. But he said: “I can tell you just simply, had I been given the opportunity to be sitting in that right hand chair in front of the fireplace, the meeting would have gone a little different.”
Trump gave a lavish welcome to Salman upon his arrival, treating him to a flypast of military jets and welcoming committee with trumpets. During the meeting, Trump said Khashoggi was “controversial” and “a lot of people didn’t like” him – before claiming Salman knew nothing about his murder. Trump dismissed the murder, saying “things happen.”
Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on 2 October 2018 to obtain documents for his upcoming wedding. It’s believed he was killed inside, before being dismembered with a bone saw. Turkish officials found evidence of the murder and that evidence had been tampered with. The UN has since found the Saudi state responsible for the “premeditated extrajudicial execution” of Khashoggi.
Asked about the murder in the Oval Office, Trump lashed out at the reporter, calling the question “insubordinate” and threatening to revoke broadcaster ABC’s licence. Salman said Khashoggi’s murder was “a huge mistake and we’re doing our best that this doesn’t happen again.”
“On the journalist,” he said, “It’s painful to hear anyone losing his life for no real purpose or it’s been painful for us in Saudi Arabia. We did all the right steps of investigation.”