The spectacle of Trump dismissing a Saudi journalist’s murder in front of MBS should worry us all
Jamal Khashoggi was a Saudi journalist, Washington Post commentator, prominent analyst we all spoke to regularly and (I use this descriptor carefully) a cautious dissenter.
It is no exaggeration to say that his murder had – at the time – a profound impact on the geopolitical tectonic plates of the world.
On 2 October 2018, he went to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, and never came out again.
Even a Saudi official investigation concluded that he had been strangled, drugged, and his body dismembered and disposed of in an operation that was intended to bring him back to the kingdom by means of persuasion or if that failed, by force.
As the grisly details of bone saws emerged, the impact of his murder swept around the globe.
Particularly when, a few years later in February 2021, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in the United States said that no rogue outfit had instigated this.
Instead, they accused Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman himself, the de facto ruler of the kingdom, of approving an operation “to capture or kill” him.
MBS, as he is known, and his government vehemently and repeatedly denied the allegations of his knowledge and involvement.
But it was too late. For years, MBS and his administration became global pariahs – labelled as such by President Joe Biden.
That is, until Tuesday.
Fast forward to 18 November 2025. He is the guest of honour at the White House in his first visit there since Khashoggi’s murder.
Sitting by his side is US president Donald Trump, who is dressing down an ABC journalist who has dared to ask the Saudi ruler about the brutal murder of a fellow reporter that the CIA has directly linked to him.
“Fake news ABC – one of the worst in the business,” Trump says furiously, adding, “You do not have to embarrass our guest by asking a question like that.”
MBS was not only doing a “phenomenal job”, he adds, but he knew “nothing” about the killing.
