Lawyer Michael Avenatti on Saturday said President Trump Donald John TrumpSteele Dossier sub-source was subject of FBI counterintelligence probe Pelosi slams Trump executive order on pre-existing conditions: It 'isn't worth the paper it's signed on' Trump 'no longer angry' at Romney because of Supreme Court stance MORE's response to the Saudis over the death of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi has been an "outrage," denouncing the president for failing to take a "strong stance" against the kingdom.

"We can never allow that to happen," Avenatti told CBS Los Angeles, referring to Khashoggi's murder by Saudi agents. "And for Donald Trump to not be taking a strong stance against the Saudis in connection with this murder is an absolute outrage."

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Avenatti made the comments after sitting on a panel at Politicon, an annual nonpartisan convention in Los Angeles.

The panel was moderated by Washington Post opinion writer Jonathan Capehart, who said Khashoggi's death has "hit us at the paper very hard."

Khashoggi was a contributor to the Post's opinion section and a leading critic of the Saudi government.

"[The loss of Khashoggi] is something that has hit us at the paper very hard," Capehart said during the panel. "But if anything, what has happened and what is continuing to happen in terms of his name and what he stood for, it has only given our newsroom strength."

Saudi Arabian authorities over the weekend put out an official report claiming Khashoggi was accidentally killed in Istanbul's Saudi consulate during a "brawl" with a team of 15 Saudi agents. Saudi leaders are claiming the killers acted without the authorization of top authorities.

This explanation been received with tremendous international pushback and skepticism, as leaders and lawmakers say it is not credible to say Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman could have been unaware of Khashoggi's murder.

Multiple suspects in Khashoggi's slaying were part of the crown prince's security team, and U.S. intelligence officials have pointed out it would have been very difficult to orchestrate an attack without any knowledge by Saudi leadership.

Trump has been widely criticized for his seeming acceptance of Saudi denials. Last week, the president repeated multiple times that King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed both said they did not know anything about Khashoggi's disappearance.

On Saturday, he came out with his strongest denouncement of the Saudi kingdom yet, but still declined to implicate the crown prince.

"Nobody has told me [the crown prince is] responsible," Trump told The Washington Post. "Nobody has told me he’s not responsible. We haven’t reached that point ... I would love if he wasn’t responsible."

At another point, he said "obviously there’s been deception, and there’s been lies" in the Saudis' accounts.

Avenatti, a likely 2020 presidential contender, during the Politicon event bashed the president repeatedly but did not say officially whether he is running.

“When I look into the field of potential Democratic nominees, I see a number of very qualified, accomplished politicians, many of whom would make an exceptional president," Avenatti said during the panel, according to the Los Angeles Times. "However, what I don’t see is many of whom could actually beat Donald Trump. If you don’t beat Donald Trump, you never get a chance to govern.”

He said at another point that Democrats will have to engage in a "brutal campaign" to defeat Trump.