One analyst was stunned by President Donald Trump's comments about a slain journalist during a press conference on Monday with Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, the Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia.
MBS was asked about the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi during the press conference. Trump jumped in to answer the question and said Khashoggi was a "controversial figure" and that "a lot of people didn't like him." Khashoggi was a prominent critic of the Crown Prince, and America's intelligence community concluded that MBS likely ordered Khashoggi's killing in 2018.
New York Times reporter Zolan Kanno-Youngs discussed Trump's comments on CNN's "The Arena" with Kaisie Hunt.
"He didn't just distancehimself from the question whenthe question came up about U.S.intelligence finding that the Crown Prince likely directed thekilling of Jamal Khashoggi," he said. "Often when there are toughquestions in the Oval Office.I've seen a bunch of thesemeetings now, the president willalmost refer to the foreignleader to answer the questionand defer it. And thisone, he didn't distance himselfor defer. He leaned in andalmost scoffed at the question."
On the same day that Khashoggi's widow ishoping that the White Housecould urge the Saudis to returnthe remains of Jamal Khashoggi,the president answers thatquestion by essentially saying, 'Well, he was a controversialfigure, and many people didn'tlike him,'" Kanno-Youngs continued. "Somebody who was doinghis job as a journalist. It wasstunning. It's a stunningmoment."