President Trump said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's speech on Jamal Khashoggi's case was "certainly not complimentary about what happened."

"I want to see the facts first. Saudi Arabia has been a great ally," he said Tuesday in the Oval Office.

Trump also defended his decision to stand by Saudi Arabia because of the economic interests they have in the US. "They are doing hundreds of billions of dollars in investments ... and thousands and thousands of jobs. "

He warned that the US would only be hurting itself if he decided to pull out of arms deals with the kingdom, and added that "I will tell you that Russia and China would love to have that military order.. Russia would pick that up very quickly."

Trump added "that is no excuse" for Khashoggi's death.

"But if what happened happened, and if the facts check out, then it's something that's very bad," he said.

"Somebody really messed up and they had the worst cover-up ever," Trump added.