U.S. President Donald Trump held a teleconference with members of the U.S. military, during which he wished them a “happy thanksgiving” holyday and hailed their determination to preserve the national security interests of the United States. Following the teleconference, President Trump answered a question asked by the press regarding ‘whether the United States would punish Saudi Arabia for its involvement in the killing of Saudi Journalist Jamal Khashoggi” – to which Trump responded that – as of yet – no conclusive evidence linked the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman to the assassination and that Saudi Arabia serves as a strategic ally and partner in “making America great again,” as well as preserving U.S. interests around the world. According to Trump, “Do people really want me to give up hundreds of thousands of jobs, and frankly if we went by this standard, we wouldn’t be able to have anybody as an ally because look at what happens all over the world.”/ “Take a look at Syria, where millions of people have been just slaughtered horribly. You take a look at what’s going on in Iran, and he vicious situation that is taking place there and the number of people that are being killed and slaughtered. And take a look all over the world… let’s not deal with anybody, in fact the fact is that Saudi Arabia is tremendously helpful in the Middle East”/ “I mean, if you look at Israel, Israel would be in big trouble without Saudi Arabia. So, what does that mean? Israel is going o leave? You want Israel to leave? We have a very strong ally in Saudi Arabia.”
President Trump underscored, once again, that his Administration will take the word of Saudi King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz and his son, crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, that they were not involved in the killing of Khashoggi. That is why, Trump underscored that Washington will continue the long-standing relationship between Saudi Arabia and the United States.