That is the response this week of U.S. President Donald Trump when asked by reporters about the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. That reply followed a laconic and baffling — albeit slightly longer — statement released by the White House hours earlier that detailed the president's thinking about the killing. While realists back Trump's reasoning, his answer is troubling: Not just because the logic is flawed, but because there appears to be no moral compass that orients his response. Sadly, such value-free foreign policy is spreading.
Khashoggi was murdered in the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Istanbul nearly two months ago. The government in Riyadh changed its story repeatedly before admitting that he had been killed in the building and his body dismembered and disposed. The steady drip of evidence, including tape recordings of the killing obtained by Turkish officials, forced the Saudis to acknowledge their role in the murder. Several Saudi Arabian individuals have been arrested in connection with the murder and, despite official denials, doubts persist about the complicity of the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammad bin Salman.
The White House statement about the killing and Trump's subsequent remarks made three points. The first is that uncertainty surrounds what happened and why. Despite evidence provided by the Turkish government and an independent analysis by the CIA — which reportedly has high confidence that the crown prince was behind the killing — Trump insists that "we may never know all of the facts surrounding the murder" and he accepts the Saudi government's claim that the crown prince was not involved.