U.S. President Donald Trump said he spoke with Saudi Arabia’s king about Jamal Khashoggi who has denied “any knowledge of whatever happened” to the missing journalist.
Trump took to Twitter Monday morning saying after talking with Saudi Arabia‘s King Salman, he is immediately sending Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to meet with him.
“Just spoke to the King of Saudi Arabia who denies any knowledge of whatever may have happened ‘to out Saudi Arabian citizen.’ He said that they are working closely with Turkey to find the answer. I am immediately sending our Secretary of State to meet with the King!”
WATCH: Trump says Saudi King gave him strong denial of involvement in disappearance of Khashoggi
Khashoggi, a Saudi Arabian citizen and U.S. resident who works for the Washington Post, was critical of Saudi’s Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s practices. He disappeared on Oct. 2 after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Turkish officials believe he was murdered and his body was dismembered and removed. Saudi Arabia has denied these reports.
Trump also suggested Monday that, “rogue killers” could be responsible for Khashoggi’s disappearance.
“I mean, who knows? We’re going to try getting to the bottom of it very soon, but his was a flat denial.”
Trump has previously threatened “severe punishment” if it turns out Khashoggi was killed in the consulate, though he said Washington would be “punishing” itself if it halted military sales to the country.
On Monday, Salman announced Saudi Arabia was launching an internal probe into the disappearance Khashoggi and a joint Turkish-Saudi team was set to search the consulate.
WATCH: Video establishes timeline of Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance
— With files from Reuters
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