US President Donald
Trump
said he does not want to listen to an audio recording of the
murder
of Saudi journalist Jamal
Khashoggi
despite facing mounting pressure to punish Saudi Arabia for the killing.
Khashoggi
was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, and Turkey has given the US government a recording of the
murder, but
Trump
said he would not listen to it "because it’s a suffering tape, it’s a terrible tape."
"I don’t want to hear the tape, no reason for me to hear the tape,"
Trump
said in an interview with "Fox News Sunday."
"I know everything that went on in the tape without having to hear it ... It was very violent, very vicious and terrible."
Trump
also said he wants to maintain a close alliance with Saudi Arabia despite
Khashoggi's death and questioned the alleged role of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is known as MbS and is the kingdom's de facto ruler.
"He told me that he had nothing to do with it,"
Trump
said, adding that "many people" also said the crown prince had no knowledge of the killing.
The interview was taped on Friday, hours before government sources said the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had briefed the
Trumpadministration on the
murder
and its belief that MbS ordered it.
Trump
said on Saturday that the CIA assessment was "very premature" and in the interview that aired on Sunday he said it may never be possible to know who ordered
Khashoggi's
murder.
Trump
faces intense pressure from senior Democratic and Republican lawmakers to take tougher action against Saudi Arabia. Some have said
Trump
should suspend arms sales to the kingdom and drop his support for MbS, but
Trump
has so far resisted that pressure.
The administration on Thursday imposed economic sanctions on 17 Saudi officials for their alleged role in the killing, but they did not target the Saudi government.
Saudi Arabia is a major oil supplier and a close ally of the United States in countering Iranian power in the Middle East.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a close ally of
Trump, said on Sunday he had no doubt about MbS' involvement in ordering the
murderof
Khashoggi.
"They are an important ally but when it comes to the crown prince, he's irrational, he's unhinged and I think he's done a lot of damage to the relationship (between) the United States and Saudi Arabia. And I have no intention of working with him ever again," he said on NBC's "Meet the Press."