“The king firmly denied any knowledge of it,” Trump said to the press after his phone call with the Saudi king. “He didn’t really know, maybe, I don’t want to get into his mind but it sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers, who knows?”

Pressed on whether he believed King Salman’s denials, the president wouldn’t say.

“All I can do is report what he told me. He told me in a very firm way that they had no knowledge of it. He said it very strongly,” Trump said. “His denial to me could not have been stronger, that he had no knowledge. It sounded like he and also the crown prince [Mohanmmed bin Salman] had no knowledge.”