Donald Trump vows ‘severe punishment’ if Saudi Arabia murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi

In written responses to questions by the AP, Cengiz said Turkish authorities had not told her about any recordings and Khashoggi was officially “still missing”.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Washington was “looking for information” and wanted to understand the “realities” of what had happened.

The reports say the watch recorded not only Khashoggi’s interrogation and torture, but also his murder.

On October 6, Reuters, quoting Turkish government sources, reported police believe he was killed, but Riyadh denies that.

The spokesperson of Erdogan’s ruling party, Omer Celik, acknowledged on Saturday that there were “extremely sensational claims” about Khashoggi’s fate in the media and said there would be “severe consequences” for anyone found responsible if they were true.

However, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Saudi Arabia had not yet co-operated with Turkey on the search for Khashoggi. “We look forward to getting results of this investigation”.

“Although I haven’t had direct conversation with the Saudis, I know other people within the executive branch have, and those discussions are underway”, he said.

US President Donald Trump said Sunday that he is against cancelling the $110 billion mega arms deal with Saudi Arabia as this will hurt America’s economy and jobs.

She had appealed for help to Trump, who earlier this week said he would invite her to the White House.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Saturday that he still planned to attend, as did International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde.

The recordings show that a Saudi security team detained the Washington Post columnist Khashoggi, 59, in the consulate after he walked in on October 2 for paperwork before his upcoming wedding, then killed him and dismembered his body, the Post reported citing the officials.

Meanwhile, Saudi Interior Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud said Saturday that “what has been circulating about orders to kill (Khashoggi) are lies and baseless allegations against the government of the kingdom”.

So who in Saudi Arabia could be singled out for punishment under a 2016 global version of the Act – apart from the 15-man hit squad and the consul-general in Istanbul, Mohammad al-Otaiba, whose back garden is now a place of interest in the investigation?

Saudi Arabia firmly denies any involvement in his disappearance and says Khashoggi left the consulate that afternoon.

“Yes”, said Trump in a pre-released extract of a CBS 60 Minutes interview to be broadcast tonight.

“Well, I’ll tell you what I don’t want to do”, he said. A Saudi source said a senior royal, Prince Khaled al-Faisal, had visited Turkey that day.

There was already mounting concern over civilian deaths caused by a Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen’s civil war and some have said Washington should block military sales to Riyadh if the allegations over Mr Khashoggi are proven.

So is Saudi Arabia. In addition to the United States dollars 110 billion arms deal, Trump said the Saudis are going to invest $450 billion in the USA through their companies.

Some Saudi media have blamed Qatar for the crisis over Khashoggi’s disappearance.