Bad things can happen if Saudi Arabia knows about Khashoggi, warns Trump

President Trump kept the heat on the Saudi Arabian government over the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi asserting that it "would be bad" if they know about the Saudi journalist's fate.

Also Read: Saudi Crown Prince Salman agrees to 'thorough, transparent' investigation into missing journalist case

"It depends whether or not the King or the Crown Prince knew about it, in my opinion, number one what happened but whether or not they knew about it. If they knew about it, that would be bad. If they didn't know about it, bad things can happen," Trump told a US media channel.

However, in another interview to a newswire, Trump had said that Saudi Arabia should be "presumed innocent until proven guilty" comparing it to Justice Kavanaugh's sexual assault controversy.

"Here we go again with, you know, you're guilty until proven innocent," he said. "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."

"I think we have to find out what happened first," Trump had said.

Meanwhile, US secretary of state Mike Pompeo who visited Saudi Arabia for a face-to-face with Crown Prince Salman to inquire about  Khashoggi, said that Saudi leaders have promised to ensure accountability over missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

"My assessment from these meetings is that there is serious commitment to determine all the facts and ensure accountability, including accountability for Saudi Arabia's senior leaders or senior officials," Pompeo said.

The US secretary of state said the Saudi leadership "strongly denied any knowledge of what took place in their consulate in Istanbul."

Jamal Khashoggi had entered the Saudi Arabian embassy in Istabul on October 2nd according to CCTV footage released by Turkey, however, he never exited even as his fiancee waited outside.

Later Turkey accussed Saudi Arabia of killing the journalist who was a known critic of the Saudi leadrship headed by Prince Salman. Turkey accused the Saudis of killing Khashoggi inside the premises and dismembering his body.

Saudi Arabia has flatly denied all accussations and threatned to take action against any country which moves against it.

During his visit, Pompeo said Prince Salman "pledged that the work of the Saudi public prosecutor will produce a full and complete conclusion with full transparency for the world to see."emphasised the importance of conducting a thorough, transparent, and timely investigation, and the Saudi leadership pledged to deliver precisely on that," Pompeo added.