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WaPo: Trump Remarks on Khashoggi Killing a ‘Betrayal’ of ‘American Values’

The newspaper's publisher said Trump is “placing personal relationships and commercial interests above American interests.”

The Washington Post denounced President Trump’s Tuesday statement casting doubt on official reports saying Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in early October. Trump’s remarks were a “betrayal of long-established American values,” the paper said in a Tuesday statement from its publisher and CEO Fred Ryan.

Additionally, Ryan wrote, Trump seems to be “placing personal relationships and commercial interests above American interests in his desire to continue to do business as usual with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.” Ryan also wrote that if the president had any information contrary to the CIA’s conclusion that the crown prince ordered Khashoggi’s killing, he should “immediately make that evidence public.” Ryan concluded: “In this failure of leadership from President Trump, it now falls to Congress to stand up to America’s true values and lasting interests.”