President Trump said Monday that he is sending Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to meet with Saudi Arabia's King Salman regarding missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

“Just spoke to the King of Saudi Arabia who denies any knowledge of whatever may have happened 'to our Saudi Arabian citizen.' He said that they are working closely with Turkey to find answer,” Trump tweeted Monday morning. “I am immediately sending our Secretary of State to meet with King!”

[Opinion: Trump can't afford to shrug off Jamal Khashoggi's apparent assassination]


“I’ve asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to immediately get on a plane, go to Saudi Arabia, go to other places if necessary, which he probably will, but with regards to this, go to Turkey if necessary,” Trump told reporters before departing to Florida Monday.

Trump said Pompeo will be leaving for Saudi Arabia within the hour.

"It sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers. Who knows?” Trump continued, adding that the king gave a “flat denial” to the accusations that it could be Riyadh’s doing. “We're going to try getting to the bottom of it.”


Khashoggi, a columnist for the Washington Post, went missing Oct. 2 after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to get the paperwork needed to marry his Turkish fiancée.

Trump recently warned Saudi Arabia of “severe punishment” if Riyadh had anything to do with Khashoggi’s death. However, in his tweet Trump says the king claims to have no knowledge of the whereabouts or condition of Khashoggi.

Salman said Sunday that he would respond to U.S. sanctions with a more severe reaction should the Trump administration take actions against Saudi Arabia, CNN reported.

Oman, Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and the Palestinian Authority all released statements Sunday expressing solidarity and support for Saudi Arabia.