Trump vows 'severe punishment' for Saudi Arabia if Khashoggi was killed

US President Donald Trump is pessimistic about the fate of missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, saying Saturday that it is "not looking too good" and he may have been killed.

Combo image of US President Donald Trump and Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi Source: AAP

S President Donald Trump said in a CBS interview on Saturday that there would be “severe punishment” for Saudi Arabia if it turns out that missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

Trump said he did not want to block military sales to Saudi Arabia, one option that has rattled US defence contractors, saying, “I don’t want to hurt jobs.”

Khashoggi, a prominent critic of Riyadh and a US resident who wrote columns for the Washington Post, disappeared on Oct. 2 after visiting the consulate.

More in English  via SBS News.