Trump boasted about saving Saudi Crown Prince after Khashoggi's killing: Report

US President Donald Trump reportedly boasted about him protecting Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) after the brutal murder of The Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Pulitzer-winning investigative journalist Bob Woodward has quoted Trump in his book ‘Rage’ after a series of exclusive interviews of the US President, according to Business Insider which has obtained an early copy of the book.

"I saved his a**," Trump told Woodward amid US outcry over the killing of Khashoggi.

The book draws on a series of exclusive interviews of Trump and shows how the response of the US President to the pandemic was rooted in the instincts, habits and style he developed during his first three years as president. According to Simon & Schuster, Rage draws from hundreds of hours of interviews with firsthand witnesses, as well as participants’ notes, emails, diaries, calendars and confidential documents.

“Rage goes behind the scenes like never before, with stunning new details about early national security decisions and operations and Trump’s moves as he faces a global pandemic, economic disaster and racial unrest,” the website says.

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Bolton on Trump's action

Former National Security Adviser John Bolton claimed in his new book, 'The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir', that Trump defended Saudi Crown Prince over the assassination of Khashoggi to distract reporters from covering Ivanka Trump’s use of private email account.  In October 2018, Khashoggi was murdered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and the Central Intelligence Agency reports suggested that Crown Prince ordered the killing. 

However, Trump read an exclamation-mark-filled statement and letting Salman off the hook by saying they “may never know” all the facts around Khashoggi’s murder. Trump’s statement on Crown Prince came immediately after reports emerged that her daughter Ivanka used private email server for discussing White House businesses. Officials confirmed the use of private email address but her lawyers claimed that she sent the email before she was briefed in the rules.

“'Our intelligence agencies continue to assess all information, but it could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event - maybe he did and maybe he didn't!' Trump had said.

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