U.S. President Donald Trump said Sunday that he wants to maintain alliance with Saudi Arabia after being fully briefed on the tape of the killing of Jamal Khashoggi.
The tape, shared previously by Turkey, was "suffering" and "terrible," Trump told Fox News, adding that "I don't want to hear the tape, no reason for me to hear the tape."
"In fact I said to the people: should I? They said, you really shouldn't, there's no reason. I know exactly -- I know everything that went on in the tape without having to hear it," he said.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control on Thursday imposed sanctions on 17 individuals over their alleged roles in the killing of Khashoggi.
"You saw we put on very heavy sanctions, massive sanctions on a large group of people from Saudi Arabia," said Trump. "But at the same time, we do have an ally and I want to stick with an ally that in many ways has been very good."
Trump said Saturday that a U.S. full report over Khashoggi's death will come over the next two days.
"We're going to come up with a report as to what we think the overall impact was and who caused it, and who did it," he said.
Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post, has been missing since he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. The Saudi authorities said that Khashoggi died in a "brawl" in its consulate.
After releasing the results of initial investigations, the Saudi Public Prosecution announced that 18 people were arrested over their alleged connections with the killing.
U.S. Congress has urged a thorough investigation in the murder and threatened to take more actions against Saudi Arabia if those responsible were not held accountable, like suspending U.S. military sales to Saudi Arabia.
