nic robertson in turkey and sam kiley in riyadh. thank you both. let s talk more about this with steven erlinger live from brussels, belgium. the u.s. president initially seemed to accept the saudi explanation as credible. now according to the washington post he has expressed some skepticism though still defending that nation as a vital u.s. ally. threading the needle here, can the president have it both ways moving forward? well, trump likes that, and it is important. saudi arabia is important. his whole policy depends on saudi arabia and his reputation of his son-in-law jared depends a bit on mohamed bin salman because jared put a lot of debt on nbs, tried to get further
mbs. in the last 18 months, especially concentrated power that has never been seen in saudi arabia before. eviscerating the royal court and taking executive control. christine. fascinating. sam kiley in riyadh. thank you. jamal khashoggi s final column published by the washington post. it was submitted by his assistant one day after he went missing. it called out the egyptian government seizure of the government. these actions no longer carry the consequences of the backlash from the international community. instead, they may trigger condemnation followed by silence. as a result, arab governments have continued free rein to continue silencing the media at an increasing rate.
planning to attend. he is under a great deal of pressure to drop out. the saudis are under pressure to postpone the whole thing. reporter: yes, the saudis are looking at postponing it. there is an element of loss of face that would go with that. the american perspective haven t decided whether or not to come because saudi arabia, whatever went on inside that consulate, will remain a vital ally for investment in both directions. that is the world s biggest producer of oil. if they squeeze that oil tap, the economy shrinks. this is not a nation that can be pushed around. sam kiley in riyadh. thank you. the white house is still plotting the next move in response to the khashoggi s
put pressure internally on mbs, muhammad bin salman, the crown prince to and those around him, to try to somehow restructure the whole saudi royal family and the ruling elements that at the moment have been really heavily concentrated in his hands over the last couple of years, jake. sam kiley in riyadh, thank you so much. joining me now is the top democrat on the senate intelligence committee, vice chairman mark warner from virginia. senator, thanks so much for joining us. president trump just tweeted that he spoke with crown prince muhammad bin salman, and that the saudis deny any involvement, any knowledge of the apparent murder of jamal khashoggi and that the saudis are vowing a full investigation. do you trust the saudis on this? i don t think i trust the saudis on this, because i don t think they ve been very forthcoming. i also want to make sure that we get whatever evidence that the turkish government may have. i think there needs to be a