US President Donald Trump, flanked by White House senior advisor Jared Kushner, meets with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh in May last year.
The Trump administration is approaching Saudi Arabia’s explanation for Jamal Khashoggi’s death with “our eyes wide open,” White House senior adviser Jared Kushner said on Monday.
“I think the President is focused on what’s good for America,” Kushner told Van Jones at the Citizen by CNN festival. “What are our strategic interests? Where do we share interests with other countries? Let’s work toward those.
“The Middle East is a rough place. It’s been a rough place for a very long time,” he said. “We have to be able to pursue our strategic objectives. But we also have to deal with what is obviously a terrible situation.”
Kushner said it was too early to say whether Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, with whom he’s cultivated a close relationship, had taken his advice to remain transparent in the investigation into Khashoggi’s death.
“The world is watching,” he said. “This is a very very serious accusation. A very serious situation. To be sure you’re transparent and to take this very seriously.”
“We’ll see” if he takes that advice, Kushner said.
Still, the President’s son-in-law offered praise for reforms enacted in the kingdom since Prince Mohammed assumed power, saying they helped advance American interests.
“A lot of the reforms they’ve been making there to help us track down the terror financing and also to push back against the people who are perverting the religion, have been very historic over the last year,” he said. “So we’re hopeful we can keep pushing forward with a lot of the initiatives that further American interests and that push back Iran’s aggression, so we’re going to stay focused on that.”