WASHINGTON—President Trump said he intended to remain a “steadfast partner” of Saudi Arabia and expressed skepticism of the CIA’s reported determination that the Saudi crown prince ordered the killing of a dissident journalist last month—suggesting the U.S. won’t impose further punitive actions against the kingdom over the murder.
In a statement released by the White House called “Standing with Saudi Arabia” on Tuesday, Mr. Trump said that U.S. intelligence agencies “continue to assess all information,” but said: “It could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event—maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!”
In contrast with the president’s description, the CIA has concluded that the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was carried out under the orders of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, U.S. officials told the Journal on Friday.
Saudi Arabia has denied that Prince Mohammed had any prior knowledge of the killing. The country’s public prosecutor has said there was no top-down order to kill Mr. Khashoggi and said he would seek the death penalty against five suspects in the case.
In Tuesday’s statement, which opened by declaring, “The world is a very dangerous place!,” Mr. Trump praised Saudi Arabia’s help to the U.S. in countering Iran and its pledge to invest $450 billion in the U.S.
Mr. Trump called Mr. Khashoggi’s murder “an unacceptable and horrible crime” and said the U.S. doesn’t condone it. He noted that his administration last week imposed sanctions on 17 Saudis allegedly involved in the case. Prince Mohammed wasn’t among them.
Lawmakers in both parties have urged a tougher response from the U.S. in response to Mr. Khashoggi’s death, but Tuesday’s statement offered no signs that the White House was preparing to take further punitive action.
The president repeatedly emphasized the importance of strong U.S.-Saudi ties and cast doubts over the conclusion that Prince Mohammed had ordered the journalist’s death.
Turkish officials have said they have audio evidence that Mr. Khashoggi’s death was the result of a planned execution on Oct. 2 at Saudi Arabia’s consulate in the Turkish city of Istanbul. Saudi Arabia has said he was killed following an altercation inside the consulate.
Mr. Trump repeatedly noted Prince Mohammed’s denials of any involvement in Mr. Khashoggi’s death. “We may never know all of the facts surrounding the murder of Mr. Jamal Khashoggi,” he said in his Tuesday statement. “In any case, our relationship is with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”
Mr. Trump said Saudi representatives had called Mr. Khashoggi an “enemy of the state” but said his “decision is in no way based on that.” The president has received criticism in the U.S. for attacking reporters as the “enemy of the people.”
Mr. Trump also suggested lawmakers who “would like to go in a different direction” could be motivated by political considerations. The president said he would “consider whatever ideas are presented to me,” but said the U.S. was “pursuing its national interests.”
The White House declined to answer whether Mr. Trump had received an intelligence briefing on the CIA’s conclusions before issuing Tuesday’s statement. A White House official only said the president “receives regular briefings.”
In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, Mr. Trump said that he had been briefed on an audio recording purportedly of Mr. Khashoggi’s killing that Turkish officials shared with the U.S., but that he didn’t plan to listen to it.
“It’s a suffering tape, it’s a terrible tape,” he said. “There’s no reason for me to hear it.”
The president’s national-security advisers, including on the National Security Council and the State Department, had read Mr. Trump’s statement and weighed in on it before it was released, a White House official said. Drafts of the statement were circulating on Monday.
Over the weekend, Mr. Trump said he had spoken with CIA Director Gina Haspel and that a full U.S. report on Mr. Khashoggi’s killing, including who was responsible, would be completed early this week. The White House isn’t expected to release anything beyond the president’s statement.
Mr. Trump’s doubts over the CIA’s conclusion on Mr. Khashoggi also is the most recent example of the president expressing skepticism about findings by U.S. intelligence. He also had repeatedly suggested he doesn’t believe the U.S. intelligence conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. election, and in a July news conference alongside Vladimir Putin, he sided with the Russian leader over the U.S. agencies. The next day, Mr. Trump said he accepted U.S. intelligence’s conclusion about Russian meddling, after his remarks while standing beside Mr. Putin touched off a backlash in Congress and criticism from some allies.
Write to Rebecca Ballhaus at Rebecca.Ballhaus@wsj.com
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