Steven Mnuchin spurns Saudi Arabian investment conference
The US treasury secretary’s decision puts the high-profile event in doubt in the wake of journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance
Washington — Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin on Thursday abandoned plans to attend an investor conference in Riyadh as the US gave Saudi Arabia more time to investigate journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance. Mnuchin’s decision puts the high-profile event in doubt. In Istanbul, Turkish investigators for a second time searched the Saudi consulate, where Khashoggi — a US resident and Washington Post columnist who was a strong critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — vanished on October 2, in a hunt for clues about an incident that has caused a global outcry. US President Donald Trump met at the White House for less than an hour with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who gave Trump an update on his talks this week with Saudi and Turkish officials about the Khashoggi case. Turkish officials have said they believe the Saudi journalist was murdered at the consulate and his body chopped up and removed.
Referring to the Saudis, Pompeo said he told Trump that “we ought to gi...
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