He’s running things and so if anybody were going to be, it would be him.”

His comments heaped pressure on his close ally amid a global outcry over the journalist’s death, and came hours before Prince Mohammed’s appearance at a Saudi investment conference where he is due to make his most high profile comments since Khashoggi was killed on Oct. 2. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was joined onstage by two Arab allies as he made his first extensive public remarks about the killing that has sparked widespread condemnation and marred his international standing after Turkish reports said a member of his entourage was involved in the crime. Saudi Arabia is one of the world's largest exporters of oil, has the Arab world's largest economy and is a key emerging market. While defending arms sales to Saudi Arabia on business grounds, Trump said: "Don't forget, if it wasn't for us, it could very well be that Saudi Arabia wouldn't last very long." Bahout said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan could pressure Saudi Arabia to repair ties with Turkish ally Qatar, which is under an embargo from Gulf Arab states, or to ease pressure on the Muslim Brotherhood, which the kingdom has seen as a threat for its role in Arab Spring protests.
U.S. President Donald Trump acknowledges that the Saudi Arabia crown prince "could have been" involved in the killing of Khashoggi, noting that "the prince is running things over there".