Former assistant to President Trump Sebastian Gorka said on Wednesday that the U.S. would take requisite action on Saudi Arabia once it gets to the bottom of what happened to missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
“With regards to Saudi Arabia, we will take requisite action as a nation when [Secretary of state] Mike Pompeo finds out what exactly happened,” Gorka told Hill.TV’s Buck Sexton on “Rising.”
Gorka’s comments come after Pompeo met with Turkish officials on Thursday in an attempt to find out what happened to Khashoggi after he entered the Saudi Arabian Consulate over two weeks ago.
Turkish officials said they believe Khashoggi was killed and likely dismembered by Saudi officials inside the consulate.
Pompeo also met with Saudi Arabian leaders on Tuesday.
Trump suggested earlier this week that “rogue killers” could have been behind Khashoggi’s disappearance, and appeared to criticize those who have blamed Saudi Arabia over the disappearance, saying it’s a case of “guilty until proven innocent.”
“What we have to do now is find out what happened to this man. Was he killed by the Saudis, and if so, what was the level of that direction?” Gorka said.
“Did it come from high up in the government? Was it a rogue element? Because if it’s a government policy, if it’s a government decision, there must be ramifications, and I think there will be in the trade relations, in arms assistance to Saudi Arabia, but the president has to be very, very careful because as you know, we have a balance right now in the Middle East,” he said.
— Julia Manchester
Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. hill tv
