CIA did not conclude Mohammed bin Salman ordering Khashoggi death: Trump

Washington, Nov 24: US President Donald Trump said earlier this week that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) did not conclude about Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's involvement in the gruesome murder of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul, Turkey, in October and that the Saudi leader regretted the death more than he did.

Trump spoke a week after the Washington Post first reported that the agency had assessed that Salman did ordered termination of the 59-year-old journalist who wrote for the same newspaper.

The president had earlier declined to either confirm or deny reports that the CIA had arrived at a conclusion about the Saudi crown prince ordering Khashoggi's murder. He also came up with a bizarre answer when asked who should be blamed for the attack, saying "maybe the world" and even referenced to oil prices as a reason not to go after the Middle Eastern kingdom, according to reports.

Also when asked whether the CIA possessed a recording implicating the crown prince, Trump said he didn't want to talk about it and asked the media to ask the agency instead.