Washington (CNN) Sen. Mark Warner said Tuesday that denial of knowledge from the Saudi regime about the disappearance of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi after he visited the Turkish Saudi Consulate "strains" the nation's credibility.

"This was not some dark alley, this was inside the Saudi Consulate," Warner, a Virginia Democrat who is the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told CNN's Jake Tapper on "The Lead." "It strains any credibility that somehow the leadership of the Saudi regime, which is so authoritarian, wouldn't have knowledge of these actions."

"I don't think I trust the Saudis on this because I don't think they've been very forthcoming," Warner added. "I think there needs to be a full-fledged international investigation, and it appears to me that the Saudi story, even in the last 24 hours, has been changing to where they may be acknowledging that the journalist Khashoggi was murdered, but somehow presenting the notion that it was rogue elements."

Saudi Arabia's King Salman and his son Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman have denied involvement in Khashoggi's disappearance. Khashoggi, who was critical of the Saudi regime in his columns, was last seen entering the Saudi Consulate in Turkey on October 2. After two days, Saudi Arabia's government issued a statement confirming that Khashoggi was missing but claiming that he had left the consulate freely.

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