Trump backed Saudi prince in Khashoggi murder to divert media from Ivanka's email fiasco, claims Bolton's book
President Donald Trump has been accused in the past of taking little steps against Saudi Arabia in the wake of allegations that the royal regime brutally silenced Jamal Khashoggi, a US-based journalist and critic of the kingdom. And now, an upcoming memoir of former National Security Adviser (NSA) John Bolton has revealed that the president backed Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) in the aftermath of Khashoggi's brutal murder in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, in October 2018 to distract the media from covering Ivanka Trump's use of a private email server.
Bolton's book 'The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir', which is set to hit the shelves next week, has been leaked to the media beforehand and its eyebrows-raising contents have already started making headlines. The 71-year-old former NSA, who was removed last September over foreign policy differences, has come up with a lot of inside stories of the current administration despite the latter taking legal steps to stall his publication from hitting the public space.
'Our relationship is with Saudi,' Trump said after Khashoggi murder
Bolton recalled the November 2018 controversy over Khashoggi’s death after the Washington Post op-ed writer went missing from the Saudi consulate in Turkey. It was a month later that the Central Intelligence Agency said the Crown Prince, who shares a close relationship with senior presidential adviser and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, had given the order for the veteran journalist’s killing. On November 20, Trump let MBS off the hook by saying in a statement: "Our intelligence agencies continue to assess all information, but it could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event — maybe he did and maybe he didn't!"
"That being said, we may never know all of the facts surrounding the murder of Mr Jamal Khashoggi. In any case, our relationship is with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," he added. Bolton revealed that behind the scenes, another plot was unfolding. According to him, Trump decided to issue the statement because just the previous day, the story broke about Ivanka sending hundreds of emails to government officials using a personal email account. Government officials are supposed to make use of government email accounts for government affairs so that they are secured.
According to Bolton's book, Trump said, "This will divert from Ivanka." Trump had in the past slammed Hillary Clinton for doing something similar during her stint as the secretary of state in the Barack Obama presidency. "If I read the statement in person, that will take over the Ivanka thing," Trump had reportedly said.