it certainly looks that way. >> reporter: the president vowed there would be consequence if saudi arabia is found responsible. >> will have to be very severe. it's bad, bad stuff. but we'll see what happens. >> reporter: nearly three weeks after the disappearance of jamal khashoggi, the trump administration wants to give saudi arabia even more time to explain what happened to the journalist, who appears to have been brutally murdered by operatives tied to riyadh. >> i told president trump this morning that we ought to give them a few more days to complete that so that we too have a complete understanding of the facts surrounding that. >> reporter: the administration is hinging its response on the impending saudi report, which critics worry is more likely to provide cover for the saudi crown prince than be a full accounting of what happened to khashoggi. >> all of luis get a chance to make a determination with respect to the credibility that went into that whether it's truly, accurate, fair and transparent in the way they made a personal commitment to me and the crown prince also made a