Khashoggi case: Trump is 'passing on Saudi talking points'

US President Donald Trump says people shouldn't rush to judge Saudi Arabia. Photo / AP

Who needs an anonymous Saudi official when you have the president of the United States?

Three times this week, President Donald Trump has seemed to preview or echo the Saudi line when it comes to the disappearance and possible murder of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey.

Even if you set aside Trump's repeated emphases that the Saudis deny wrongdoing - which is a Trump tell if there ever was one - his comments betray an apparent willingness to float and parrot Saudi talking points in a way that shouldn't escape notice.

Yesterday, Trump appeared to preview the Saudi line that "rogue killers" could be responsible for Khashoggi's death.

Then, reports indicated that the Saudis may indeed soon admit that Khashoggi was killed but would blame it on a botched interrogation. (The reasoning there would ostensibly be this could help Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman escape culpability.)

Today, Trump seemed to scale back the Saudis' denial yet again. After saying yesterday that King Salman has issued a "flat denial," Trump updated that statement to say that Salman's son, the crown prince, had "totally denied any knowledge of what took place in their Turkish Consulate."

The key words in that denial would seem to be "any knowledge of what took place." That doesn't mean the Saudis are denying Khashoggi was killed; it just means the crown prince was saying they didn't order it or sanction it.

Then, to drive the point home, Trump drew the same line in an interview with Fox News. He said directly that US punishment "depends [on] whether or not the king or the crown prince knew about it."

In an interview with AP, Trump today criticised rapidly mounting global condemnation of Saudi Arabia, warning of a rush to judgment and echoing the Saudis' request for patience.

"I think we have to find out what happened first," Trump said. "Here we go again with, you know, you're guilty until proven innocent. I don't like that. We just went through that with Justice Kavanaugh and he was innocent all the way as far as I'm concerned."

Senator Chris Murphy, (D), called it yesterday before reports indicated a potentially scaled-back Saudi denial: "Been hearing the ridiculous 'rogue killers' theory was where the Saudis would go with this. Absolutely extaordinary they were able to enlist the President of the United States as their PR agent to float it."

It will be easy for Trump to dismiss such criticisms by arguing that he's merely passing along what he was told by King Salman and the crown prince. But it seems an odd coincidence that Trump has passed along comments that seem tailored to an eventual admission that this was an accidental killing. That's not something the Saudi Government has said officially, but it seems to be the explanation Trump has warmed to.

There are a few potential reasons for that.

It could be because the Saudis skillfully tempted Trump to parrot their line.

It could be because they expressly told him what he should pass along, and he dutifully did it.

Or it could be because Trump is hearing what he wants to hear and believing what he wants to believe.

Trump rather clearly doesn't want to shake up the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia, either through new sanctions or scaling back an arms deal.

He has also repeatedly noted Khashoggi isn't a US citizen, which appears indicative of a softer potential punishment.

But regardless of which of the three options it is, it's worth asking why the president of the United States is saying the exact things the Saudis would like him to say - at a time when they are supposed to be on the defensive over the potential killing of a journalist for an American newspaper.