Twitter has removed networks of pro-Saudi Arabian bots that attempted to spread the country's perspective of the missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi's case.

The microblogging website took action Thursday after NBC News notified it of hundreds of accounts that spread the same pro-Saudi government tweets simultaneously. The list NBC provided was compiled by Indiana-based information technologies specialist Josh Russell, that the news network said previously exposed similar influence campaigns on Reddit and Twitter.

Twitter told NBC it was aware of the alleged Saudi campaign, and had suspended even more accounts than it was informed of.

Some of the bots that were suspended tweeted using a hashtag that trended Sunday, which roughly translated to "#We_all_trust_Mohammad_Bin_Salman."

Suspicion has grown that bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince, ordered the assassination of Khashoggi who has not been seen since he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.

The source of the bot network is not immediately clear, according to NBC.

On the day of his disappearance, 15 other Saudis, including several officials, arrived in Istanbul on two planes and visited the consulate while Khashoggi was still inside, according to Turkish police sources. All of the identified individuals have since left Turkey.

On Wednesday, crime scene investigation units arrived at the official residence of Saudi Consul General Mohammad al-Otaibi around 4.40 p.m. local time (1340GMT). Al-Otaibi had left Turkey for Riyadh on Tuesday.

Officials from a joint Turkish-Saudi team completed an investigation into the case early Thursday after searching the residence as well as the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.</s>“I think it’s important for us all to remember, too — we have a long, since 1932, a long strategic relationship with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” Pompeo said after meeting with Trump, also calling Saudi Arabia “an important counterterrorism partner”.

Trump is under pressure including from fellow Republicans in Congress who have said the US must not let Saudi Arabia escape without punishment.

“Must not accept a strategic alliance with #SaudiArabia which requires our silence when they butcher a political critic,” Republican US Senator Marco Rubio wrote on Twitter.

“We must: 1. Hold everyone responsible for #KashoggiMurder accountable; 2. Be clear on what is expected moving forward if they want to preserve our alliance.”

Mnuchin became the latest Western official to pull out of the high-profile investment conference in Riyadh later this month, joining a list of international officials and business executives to boycott the event. Earlier on Thursday, three senior European ministers said they were pulling out, too.

As of Thursday, the conference was still going on. The spokesman for Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which is hosting the event, was not immediately available for comment. The organisers could not be reached for comment.

Mnuchin wrote on Twitter he had met with Trump and Pompeo “and we have decided, I will not be participating in the Future Investment Initiative summit in Saudi Arabia”.

Pompeo told reporters that he made clear to the Saudis in his visit to Riyadh that “we take this matter with respect to Mr Khashoggi very seriously”.

“They made clear to me that they too understand the serious nature of the disappearance of Mr Khashoggi. They also assured me that they will conduct a complete, thorough investigation of all of the facts surrounding Mr Khashoggi and that they will do so in a timely fashion,” Pompeo added.

Turkish investigators left the Saudi consulate in Istanbul early on Thursday after searching the building and consular vehicles, a witness said. They used bright lights to illuminate the garden. Earlier, they spent nearly nine hours in the Saudi consul’s residence along with Saudi investigators.

The Turkish search, which used a drone, included the roof and garage.

Khashoggi had gone to the consulate seeking documents for his marriage and has not been seen since.

The incident poses a dilemma for the US and other Western nations, which have lucrative business dealings with the authoritarian kingdom and count on it as a leading Middle East ally and opponent of their common enemy Iran. Saudi Arabia also wields significant influence as the world’s top oil exporter.

How Western allies deal with Riyadh will hinge on the extent to which they believe responsibility for Khashoggi’s disappearance lies with Prince Mohammed and the Saudi authorities.

Trump, who has forged closer ties with Saudi Arabia and the 33-year-old prince, has speculated without providing evidence that “rogue killers” could be responsible.

Four Western rights groups — Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders — urged Turkey to ask the UN to investigate Khashoggi’s disappearance.

“UN involvement is the best guarantee against a Saudi whitewash or attempts by other governments to sweep the issue under the carpet to preserve lucrative business ties with Riyadh,” said Robert Mahoney, deputy executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists.

In pulling out of the conference in Riyadh, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire cited concerns about the Khashoggi matter. British trade minister Liam Fox followed suit, with his spokesman saying: “Those bearing responsibility for his disappearance must be held to account.” Dutch Finance Minister Wopka Hoekstra also scrapped plans to attend while the Dutch government canceled a trade mission to Saudi Arabia next month.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow did not have enough information about Khashoggi’s disappearance to justify harming ties with Riyadh. His government will wait for details, Putin told a forum in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

A US government source said that US intelligence agencies are increasingly convinced of the crown prince’s culpability in the operation against Khashoggi, which they believe resulted in his death.</s>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, who has been sharply critical of Saudi Arabia after the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, said on Friday he was highly sceptical of the Saudi explanation for Khashoggi's death.

"To say that I am sceptical of the new Saudi narrative about Mr. Khashoggi is an understatement," Graham said on Twitter.

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.</s>Twitter confirms that it has moved to suspend scores of suspected bot accounts that began dispensing an unusually high volume of tweets that were determined to have spread disinformation and promoted allegiance to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the wake of journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance.

Many of the those removed from the Jack Dorsey-run social media platform reportedly came from a list of hundreds of handles that was compiled and passed over by IT sources of NBC News last week. Twitter has revealed that it was aware of the suspicious accounts prior to Thursday’s, October 18, announcement. The company’s decision to finally come down on the alleged coordinated operation followed a weekend that saw some of the Arabic hashtags included in the posts trending worldwide.

While a percentage of those who wound up pushing the Saudi-bias campaign is believed to be comprised of credible users, analysts are calling attention to the nature of some of the more active accounts that the data points to as causing doubt that the spike in activity was completely organic. Researchers such as Josh Russell and Ben Nimmo informed Newsweek that there had specifically been an explosion of retweets being simultaneously pumped out to spread content in the kind of uniform fashion that would suggest semi-automation tactics to have been at work.

“There are multiple bot networks, and the main aim appears to be to manipulate trends to hide negative information about Saudi’s involvement in Khashoggi’s disappearance. The sheer amount of bots drives down critical trends while promoting banal information or pro-MBS [Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman] propaganda,” researcher Marc Owen Jones told the publication.

Some of the propaganda going around reportedly aimed to discredit the Al Jazeera news network as a Qatar-owned opponent of the Saudi royal family, while other narratives that the tweets promoted sought to defame Khashoggi as an alleged proponent of the Muslim Brotherhood and question the validity of his fiancee Hatice Cengiz’s relationship to him. Meanwhile, a great deal of spin was put on the allegations with the intention of generating a wave of support for the Saudi prince, according to reports.

Khashoggi has been missing for over two weeks. He was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Turkey on October 2. Cengiz vouches that he had gone to obtain paperwork proving that he was effectively divorced from his last marriage so that they could marry. But he was never seen again, and with him having lived in exile as a critic of the Saudi royal regime, it is suspected that he may have been murdered and disposed of on that day.

Twitter thus far claims to have no evidence that would prove the botnet activity it took action to stifle was directly facilitated by the Saudi government.</s>WASHINGTON – Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has decided to take part in an anti-terror finance meeting with Saudi security officials and their Middle Eastern counterparts in Riyadh later this month, opting to attend despite growing global outrage over the suspected murder of a U.S.-based journalist at the hands of Saudi operatives, according to three people familiar with his travel plans.

The security gathering next week is separate from a Riyadh financial summit that Mnuchin announced on Thursday he would not attend. Numerous other Western officials and corporations have pulled out of the “Davos in the Desert” financial summit because of the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who wrote for The Washington Post.

The event Mnuchin still plans to attend – a gathering of the Terrorist Financing Targeting Center in Riyadh – would include participation by Saudi security services that are under scrutiny in Khashoggi’s death.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – the presumptive king and one of Trump’s closest allies in the region – is under growing pressure to explain the disappearance of Khashoggi, who U.S. intelligence officials believe was killed and dismembered by a Saudi “murder team” inside the Saudi consulate in Turkey on Oct. 2. He has not been seen since.

The White House has been hesitant to criticize Saudi Arabia, although President Donald Trump acknowledged for the first time Thursday that Khashoggi was likely dead.

In announcing his withdrawal Thursday from the financial summit, called the Future Investment Initiative, Mnuchin said he reached the decision with the help of Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Mnuchin did not give a reason for pulling out of the conference, but he was under growing pressure from congressional Republicans not to attend as it could have been seen as a sign the Trump administration was not concerned about the alleged killing. He joins an exodus of government officials and corporate titans who have announced their withdrawal from the summit, including Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase, Bill Ford of Ford Motor Co. and AOL founder Steve Case. Fox Business also announced its departure after Mnuchin’s announcement Thursday.

Financier Tom Barrack, a friend of the president with deep ties in the Middle East, has also dropped out of the conference, a person familiar with the matter confirmed Friday.

The Terrorist Financing Targeting Center is a new entity co-founded by the United States and Saudi Arabia that Mnuchin helped establish last year. It includes the governments of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.

Trump administration officials have not revealed who Mnuchin plans to meet with from the Saudi government during his visit.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., criticized Mnuchin’s planned Saudi visit Friday. “It is unconscionable for @stevenmnuchin1 to stand beside the Saudi government after the likely murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. This administration is emboldening lawless dictators around the world,” he wrote on Twitter.</s>Pressure from many world leaders continues to mount on Saudi Arabia weeks following this month’s disappearance of Saudi journalist and U.S. resident Jamal Khashoggi, who was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2 for routine paperwork needed to marry his Turkish fiancée.

Meanwhile, the Saudi government remains defensive and defiant even as media outlets in Turkey and the U.S. report more allegations that Riyadh played a role in the disappearance and presumed slaying of Khashoggi.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in urging patience to allow the Saudi government to carry out its own investigation, said Thursday the U.S. and Saudi Arabia have a long history as allies.

“I think it’s important for us all to remember too that we have a long—since 1932—we have a long strategic relationship with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” Pompeo told reporters outside the White House following his meeting with President Donald Trump about the situation. “They can be an important counterterrorism partner, they have custody of two holy sites, they are an important strategic alliance.”

“There are lots of stories out there about what happened, and I’m going to allow the process to move forward and allow the facts to unfold,” he said. “And as they unfold, we will make a determination for ourselves about what happened there, based on the facts that are presented.”

More: ‘A few more days’: Secretary of State Pompeo urges patience over missing journalist

The G7 Foreign Ministers — composed of top diplomats from Canada, France, Germany Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and United States — issued a statement on Wednesday saying they remain troubled by the disappearance of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of the oil-rich kingdom living in self-imposed exile. The ministers said that those responsible for his disappearance must be held to account.

The G7 statement came days after the foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, Germany, and France issued a joint statement calling for a complete and detailed response to the missing Khashoggi from the Saudi government.

On Wednesday, UK Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt posted a photo on his Twitter account with Washington Post CEO Fred Ryan, with whom he met in London, and said there was an urgent need to know what happened to Khashoggi.

This image taken from CCTV video obtained by the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet and made available on Oct. 9, 2018, claims to show Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2018.

Federica Mogherini, European Union High Representative/Vice-President, said this week the EU expects “full clarity” and “full investigations” from Saudi authorities.

On Thursday morning, Amnesty International called on Turkey to ask the United Nation’s Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to establish a U.N. investigation that would give its team complete access to travel and to interview potential witnesses and suspects responsible for the possible extrajudicial killing of Khashoggi.

“UN involvement is the best guarantee against a Saudi whitewash or attempts by other governments to sweep the issue under the carpet to preserve lucrative business ties with Riyadh,” said Robert Mahoney, deputy executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, in an Amnesty International statement.

Other groups joining with Amnesty International: the Committee to Protect Journalists, Human Rights Watch, and Reporters Without Borders.

Jamal Khashoggi in a photo taken on December 15, 2014. The veteran Saudi journalist who has been critical of the government has gone missing after visiting the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul on September 2, 2018, the Washington Post reported.

In an interview with the BBC, the UN Secretary-General called for a “strong quest for the truth.” When asked whether governments should attend the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh this month, he replied that governments should “act in the appropriate way” once there’s a clear answer as to what happened to Khashoggi.

In his comments Thursday to reporters, Pompeo said the U.S. made it clear to the Saudi government the seriousness of the allegations against them. “They assured me that they will conduct a complete and thorough investigation,” he said.

A short time later, after meeting with Trump and Pompeo, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin announced on Twitter that he would not be attending the Oct. 23-25 conference dubbed “Davos in the desert.”

Many other high-profile attendees have dropped out of the investment conference including JPMorgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon, Ford Motor Company Chairman Bill Ford, and Virgin Group found Richard Branson, according to the Financial Times. CNN reported that on Tuesday the International Monetary Fund said its chairman Christine Lagarde has deferred her trip to Riyadh for the conference.

With many world leaders strident in their calls for an investigation to hold and punish those responsible, Trump has oscillated in his stance from calling for “severe punishment” to floating theories of “rogue killers” to saying his administration is “not going to walk away from Saudi Arabia.”

The kingdom has denied any involvement in the alleged disappearance of Khashoggi and has been defiant in its defense.

“The Kingdom as the government and people are steadfast, glorious as ever, no matter whatever the pressures and circumstances might be,” said a statement released Monday in the wake of the international outcry.

Through their public relations arm the Saudi Press Agency, the kingdom published statements of support and solidarity from several countries and groups in the region, including Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, and the Arab League.

It reported, for example, that Jordan information minister Jumana Ghunaimat had issued a statement saying that “Jordan stands with Saudi Arabia in the face of any rumors and campaigns aimed at it without relying on facts.”</s>Pressure from many world leaders continues to mount on Saudi Arabia weeks following this month’s disappearance of Saudi journalist and U.S. resident Jamal Khashoggi, who was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2 for routine paperwork needed to marry his Turkish fiancée.

Meanwhile, the Saudi government remains defensive and defiant even as media outlets in Turkey and the U.S. report more allegations that Riyadh played a role in the disappearance and presumed slaying of Khashoggi.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in urging patience to allow the Saudi government to carry out its own investigation, said Thursday the U.S. and Saudi Arabia have a long history as allies.

“I think it’s important for us all to remember too that we have a long—since 1932—we have a long strategic relationship with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” Pompeo told reporters outside the White House following his meeting with President Donald Trump about the situation. “They can be an important counterterrorism partner, they have custody of two holy sites, they are an important strategic alliance.”

“There are lots of stories out there about what happened, and I’m going to allow the process to move forward and allow the facts to unfold,” he said. “And as they unfold, we will make a determination for ourselves about what happened there, based on the facts that are presented.”

More: ‘A few more days’: Secretary of State Pompeo urges patience over missing journalist

The G7 Foreign Ministers — composed of top diplomats from Canada, France, Germany Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and United States — issued a statement on Wednesday saying they remain troubled by the disappearance of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of the oil-rich kingdom living in self-imposed exile. The ministers said that those responsible for his disappearance must be held to account.

The G7 statement came days after the foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, Germany, and France issued a joint statement calling for a complete and detailed response to the missing Khashoggi from the Saudi government.

On Wednesday, UK Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt posted a photo on his Twitter account with Washington Post CEO Fred Ryan, with whom he met in London, and said there was an urgent need to know what happened to Khashoggi.

This image taken from CCTV video obtained by the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet and made available on Oct. 9, 2018, claims to show Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2018.

Federica Mogherini, European Union High Representative/Vice-President, said this week the EU expects “full clarity” and “full investigations” from Saudi authorities.

On Thursday morning, Amnesty International called on Turkey to ask the United Nation’s Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to establish a U.N. investigation that would give its team complete access to travel and to interview potential witnesses and suspects responsible for the possible extrajudicial killing of Khashoggi.

“UN involvement is the best guarantee against a Saudi whitewash or attempts by other governments to sweep the issue under the carpet to preserve lucrative business ties with Riyadh,” said Robert Mahoney, deputy executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, in an Amnesty International statement.

Jamal Khashoggi in a photo taken on December 15, 2014. The veteran Saudi journalist who has been critical of the government has gone missing after visiting the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul on September 2, 2018, the Washington Post reported.

In an interview with the BBC, the UN Secretary-General called for a “strong quest for the truth.” When asked whether governments should attend the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh this month, he replied that governments should “act in the appropriate way” once there’s a clear answer as to what happened to Khashoggi.

In his comments Thursday to reporters, Pompeo said the U.S. made it clear to the Saudi government the seriousness of the allegations against them. “They assured me that they will conduct a complete and thorough investigation,” he said.

A short time later, after meeting with Trump and Pompeo, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin announced on Twitter that he would not be attending the Oct. 23-25 conference dubbed “Davos in the desert.”

Many other high-profile attendees have dropped out of the investment conference including JPMorgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon, Ford Motor Company Chairman Bill Ford, and Virgin Group found Richard Branson, according to the Financial Times. CNN reported that on Tuesday the International Monetary Fund said its chairman Christine Lagarde has deferred her trip to Riyadh for the conference.

With many world leaders strident in their calls for an investigation to hold and punish those responsible, Trump has oscillated in his stance from calling for “severe punishment” to floating theories of “rogue killers” to saying his administration is “not going to walk away from Saudi Arabia.”

The kingdom has denied any involvement in the alleged disappearance of Khashoggi and has been defiant in its defense.

“The Kingdom as the government and people are steadfast, glorious as ever, no matter whatever the pressures and circumstances might be,” said a statement released Monday in the wake of the international outcry.

Through their public relations arm the Saudi Press Agency, the kingdom published statements of support and solidarity from several countries and groups in the region, including Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, and the Arab League.

It reported, for example, that Jordan information minister Jumana Ghunaimat had issued a statement saying that “Jordan stands with Saudi Arabia in the face of any rumors and campaigns aimed at it without relying on facts.”</s>Pressure from many world leaders continues to mount on Saudi Arabia weeks following this month’s disappearance of Saudi journalist and U.S. resident Jamal Khashoggi, who was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2 for routine paperwork needed to marry his Turkish fiancée.

Meanwhile, the Saudi government remains defensive and defiant even as media outlets in Turkey and the U.S. report more allegations that Riyadh played a role in the disappearance and presumed slaying of Khashoggi.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in urging patience to allow the Saudi government to carry out its own investigation, said Thursday the U.S. and Saudi Arabia have a long history as allies.

“I think it’s important for us all to remember too that we have a long—since 1932—we have a long strategic relationship with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” Pompeo told reporters outside the White House following his meeting with President Donald Trump about the situation. “They can be an important counterterrorism partner, they have custody of two holy sites, they are an important strategic alliance.”

“There are lots of stories out there about what happened, and I’m going to allow the process to move forward and allow the facts to unfold,” he said. “And as they unfold, we will make a determination for ourselves about what happened there, based on the facts that are presented.”

More: ‘A few more days’: Secretary of State Pompeo urges patience over missing journalist

The G7 Foreign Ministers — composed of top diplomats from Canada, France, Germany Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and United States — issued a statement on Wednesday saying they remain troubled by the disappearance of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of the oil-rich kingdom living in self-imposed exile. The ministers said that those responsible for his disappearance must be held to account.

The G7 statement came days after the foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, Germany, and France issued a joint statement calling for a complete and detailed response to the missing Khashoggi from the Saudi government.

On Wednesday, UK Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt posted a photo on his Twitter account with Washington Post CEO Fred Ryan, with whom he met in London, and said there was an urgent need to know what happened to Khashoggi.

This image taken from CCTV video obtained by the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet and made available on Oct. 9, 2018, claims to show Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2018.

Federica Mogherini, European Union High Representative/Vice-President, said this week the EU expects “full clarity” and “full investigations” from Saudi authorities.

On Thursday morning, Amnesty International called on Turkey to ask the United Nation’s Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to establish a U.N. investigation that would give its team complete access to travel and to interview potential witnesses and suspects responsible for the possible extrajudicial killing of Khashoggi.

“UN involvement is the best guarantee against a Saudi whitewash or attempts by other governments to sweep the issue under the carpet to preserve lucrative business ties with Riyadh,” said Robert Mahoney, deputy executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, in an Amnesty International statement.

Jamal Khashoggi in a photo taken on December 15, 2014. The veteran Saudi journalist who has been critical of the government has gone missing after visiting the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul on September 2, 2018, the Washington Post reported.

In an interview with the BBC, the UN Secretary-General called for a “strong quest for the truth.” When asked whether governments should attend the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh this month, he replied that governments should “act in the appropriate way” once there’s a clear answer as to what happened to Khashoggi.

In his comments Thursday to reporters, Pompeo said the U.S. made it clear to the Saudi government the seriousness of the allegations against them. “They assured me that they will conduct a complete and thorough investigation,” he said.

A short time later, after meeting with Trump and Pompeo, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin announced on Twitter that he would not be attending the Oct. 23-25 conference dubbed “Davos in the desert.”

Many other high-profile attendees have dropped out of the investment conference including JPMorgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon, Ford Motor Company Chairman Bill Ford, and Virgin Group found Richard Branson, according to the Financial Times. CNN reported that on Tuesday the International Monetary Fund said its chairman Christine Lagarde has deferred her trip to Riyadh for the conference.

With many world leaders strident in their calls for an investigation to hold and punish those responsible, Trump has oscillated in his stance from calling for “severe punishment” to floating theories of “rogue killers” to saying his administration is “not going to walk away from Saudi Arabia.”

The kingdom has denied any involvement in the alleged disappearance of Khashoggi and has been defiant in its defense.

“The Kingdom as the government and people are steadfast, glorious as ever, no matter whatever the pressures and circumstances might be,” said a statement released Monday in the wake of the international outcry.

Through their public relations arm the Saudi Press Agency, the kingdom published statements of support and solidarity from several countries and groups in the region, including Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, and the Arab League.

It reported, for example, that Jordan information minister Jumana Ghunaimat had issued a statement saying that “Jordan stands with Saudi Arabia in the face of any rumors and campaigns aimed at it without relying on facts.”</s>WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday he will not attend an investment conference in Saudi Arabia.

Mnuchin made the announcement on his Twitter account, saying that the decision was made after a White House meeting with President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Mnuchin said in his tweet, “I will not be participating in the Future Investment Initiative summit in Saudi Araba.”

His announcement comes after Pompeo told reporters at the White House that the administration would await the outcome of investigations by Saudi Arabia and Turkey into the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi before deciding how the U.S. will respond.

The Future Investment Initiative conference takes place Oct. 23-25 in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. It was set up last year as a kind of “Davos in the Desert” for the world’s business elite to network.

Mnuchin joins a growing number of global leaders who have decided to pull out of the summit, including International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, as well as senior government officials from France, Britain and the Netherlands.
• New evidence that writer was slain in Saudi consulate: Turkish official
• Trump says Saudi king denies knowledge of missing journalist
• Biden: Trump ‘coddles’ autocrats like Kim, Putin, Saudis</s>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, who has been sharply critical of Saudi Arabia after the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, said on Friday he was highly skeptical of the Saudi explanation for Khashoggi’s death.

“To say that I am skeptical of the new Saudi narrative about Mr. Khashoggi is an understatement,” Graham said on Twitter.
Twitter suspends a bot network spreading pro-Saudi Arabia tweets regarding Kashoggi's disappearance.