ADDS DETAILS THROUGHOUT
By Michael Hernandez
WASHINGTON (AA) – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has asked President Donald Trump to give Riyadh more time to investigate the case of missing Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
Addressing reporters at the White House after returning from a trip to Saudi Arabia and Turkey, Pompeo said he advised the president to give Saudi officials "a few more days" to conduct the probe, but did not specify a hard deadline.
Khashoggi was last seen Oct. 2 when he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Asked why Saudi Arabia should be trusted to investigate Khashoggi's disappearance as fears continue to mount that the country had him killed, Pompeo said Riyadh "made a personal commitment to me, and the crown prince also made a personal commitment to the president."
"We're all gonna get to see the response that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia takes with us. When we see that we'll get a chance to determine, all of us, will get a chance to make a determination with respect to the credibility and the work that went into that," he said.
Pompeo said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told him during his trip to Ankara that Turkey is conducting its own probe of the matter.
"We had a chance to meet with some of the team that’s involved in that," he said. "He assured me that they will share their results with the Saudis as well. So we do believe that between these two efforts, a complete picture will emerge of what actually transpired here."
On the same day of Khashoggi's 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 the 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 building in Istanbul.
The Turkish team concluded its search for evidence in nine hours and left but returned to the Saudi Consulate to continue searching the premises.
The Istanbul Chief Prosecutor's Office said the public will be informed about the investigation "when necessary."