“Just spoke to the King of Saudi Arabia who denies any knowledge of whatever may have happened ‘to our Saudi Arabian citizen.’ He said that they are working closely with Turkey to find answer.”
Oct 15, 2018 -

“It sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers — who knows. [I told King Salman] the world is watching…and this is very important to get to the bottom of it.”
Oct 15, 2018 -

“Just spoke with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia who totally denied any knowledge of what took place in their Turkish Consulate. He…told me that he has already started, and will rapidly expand, a full and complete investigation into this matter. Answers will be forthcoming shortly.”
Oct 16, 2018 -

“I spoke to the crown prince… He said he and his father knew nothing about it.… I spoke to the king yesterday, the crown prince, today wanting to know what was going on, what was happening, and he said very strongly that he and his father knew nothing about it but they are starting a major, they’ve already started a major investigation to find out. And so the answers will be forthcoming…

“When I spoke to the father, it just sounded to me like he felt like he did not do it. He did not know about it and it sounded like, you know, the concept of rogue killers. But I don’t know. I think the investigation will lead to an answer…

“Here we go again with, you know, you’re guilty until proven innocent. I don’t like that. We just went through that with Justice Kavanaugh. And he was innocent all the way… Hopefully they’ll get to an answer as to what happened. But I will say they were very strong in their denial about themselves knowing.”
Oct 17, 2018 -

“I do [find the Saudis’ story that Khashoggi died in a fistfight credible], I do. It’s early, we haven’t finished our review or investigation, but…I think it’s a very important first step.”
Oct 20, 2018 -

“My first question to [Mohammad bin Salman] was, ‘Did you know anything about it in terms of the initial planning?’…Prince Mohammed replied that he didn’t. I said, ‘Where did it start?’ And he said it started at lower levels… I want to believe [his denials].”
Oct 24, 2018 -

“They did a bad job of execution and they did a bad job of talking about it or covering it up. I’m saying they should have never thought about it. Once they thought about it, everything else they did was bad too… It should have never happened.”
Oct 24, 2018 -

“King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman vigorously deny any knowledge of the planning or execution of the murder of Mr. Khashoggi. Our intelligence agencies continue to assess all information, but it could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event – maybe he did and maybe he didn’t! That being said, we may never know all of the facts surrounding the murder of Mr. Jamal Khashoggi.

“In any case, our relationship is with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia… The United States intends to remain a steadfast partner of Saudi Arabia to ensure the interests of our country, Israel and all other partners in the region.”
Nov 20, 2018 -

“[The CIA] didn’t conclude [with confidence that Mohammad bin Salman was responsible]… They did not come to a conclusion… Nobody has concluded. I don’t know if anybody is going to be able to conclude that the Crown Prince did it… I don’t know.But whether he did or whether he didn’t, he denies it vehemently. His father denies it — the King — vehemently… They’re vehemently denying it. And we have hundreds of thousands of jobs. 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…

“Saudi Arabia is tremendously helpful in the Middle East… Israel would be in big trouble without Saudi Arabia. So what does that mean? Israel is going to leave? We want Israel to leave?…

“We have an ally that said they did not commit, at the top level — the Crown Prince, the King — they did not commit this atrocity And it’s an atrocity… But the fact is, they’ve been a very strong ally. They create tremendous wealth. They create, really, a tremendous number of jobs in their purchases. And very importantly, they keep the oil price down…

“Maybe the world should be held accountable, because the world is a vicious place.”
Nov 22, 2018 -

“If you look at my statement, it’s maybe [Mohammad bin Salman] did [order the murder of Jamal Khashoggi] and maybe he didn’t. But he denies it. And people around him deny it… And the CIA did not say affirmatively he did it, either, by the way. I’m not saying that they’re saying he didn’t do it, but they didn’t say it affirmatively.”
Nov 27, 2018 -

“I think it’s been heavily investigated… By everybody… Saudi Arabia is a big buyer of America product. That means something to me. It’s a big producer of jobs… This is a vicious, hostile place. If you’re going to look at Saudi Arabia, look at Iran, look at other countries.”
June 21, 2019 -

“I did not [talk to Mohammad bin Salman about the just-released U.N. report implicating the Crown Prince in Khashoggi’s murder] because it really didn’t come up in that discussion.”
June 23, 2019 -

“I saved [Mohammad bin Salman’s] ass. I was able to get Congress to leave him alone...

“He will always say that he didn’t do it. He says that to everybody, and frankly I’m happy that he says that. But he will say that to you, he will say that to Congress, and he will say that to everybody. He’s never said he did do it… He says very strongly that he didn’t do it. Bob, they spent $400 billion over a fairly short period of time.”
Jan 22, 2020 -