Trump suggests 'rogue killers' murdered journalist Khashoggi

In a comment that could give Saudi officials a route to climb down from outright denials, President Donald Trump has suggested that "rogue killers" could be responsible for the disappearance and presumed murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who hasn't been seen since entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul two weeks ago.

Trump's comment came after a 20-minute phone call with Saudi Arabia's King Salman in which Trump said the king adamantly denied any knowledge of what happened to Khashoggi.

Trump announced he'd dispatched Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to the kingdom and anywhere else necessary to get to the bottom of the apparent demise of Khashoggi, a Saudi who had been living and working in the United States.

"The king firmly denied any knowledge of it," Trump told reporters on Monday as he left the White House for a trip to survey hurricane damage in Florida and Georgia. Trump said he didn't "want to get into (Salman's) mind," but told reporters: "it sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers. I mean, who knows? We're going to try getting to the bottom of it very soon, but his was a flat denial."
Trump tweeted early Monday that Salman denied any knowledge of "whatever may have happened 'to our Saudi Arabian citizen.'"
"The world is watching, the world is talking. This is very important to get to the bottom of it," Trump said. "I think he understands that very well."