Washington (AFP) - US President Donald Trump fiercely defended Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Tuesday over the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, insisting the kingdom’s de facto ruler “knew nothing” about the murder as he wooed him at the White House.

Trump sought to brush the gruesome murder of the Washington Post columnist under the red carpet, honoring the Saudi royal with a flypast and lavish dinner, and formally naming Riyadh as a major non-NATO ally.

He raged at a journalist who asked the prince in the Oval Office about the case for embarrassing the Saudi royal on his first US trip since the murder, and called Khashoggi “extremely controversial.”

“A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about,” he said.

“Whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happened, but he (the prince) knew nothing about it. And we can leave it at that. You don’t have to embarrass our guest by asking a question like that.”

The Saudi royal, who came bearing a pledge of a $1 trillion investment in the United States on his first US visit since the killing, said Khashoggi’s murder was “painful” and a “huge mistake.”

Trump’s comments were at odds with a US intelligence assessment in 2021 that concluded Prince Mohammed had ordered the operation to kill Khashoggi, who was murdered and dismembered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

Saudi officials blamed rogue agents.

- ‘No justification’ -

After the meeting, the journalist’s widow, Hanan Elatr Khashoggi, said in a post on X there was “no justification to murder my husband” and urged the Saudi prince to “meet me, apologize and compensate me.”

The killing during Trump’s first term caused a diplomatic crisis, but the US president made it clear he now wanted to paper over it as he boosts his relationship with the Saudis.

Trump called for US broadcaster ABC, whose journalist asked the question about Khashoggi’s murder, to have its license revoked in a furious diatribe against the “crappy” company.

In a surprise move at the gala dinner in the evening, Trump said he was designating Saudi Arabia as one of just 20 major non-NATO allies around the world. “I’m just telling you now for the first time, because they wanted to keep a little secret for tonight,” he said.

Soccer legend Cristiano Ronaldo, who plays in Saudi Arabia, was among the guests at the meal. So was billionaire Elon Musk, in a sign that the billionaire has mended ties with Trump after his tempestuous spell in the president’s administration.

Earlier Trump, 79, pulled out all the stops to impress Prince Mohammed, 40, giving him a flyby featuring the coveted, US-made F-35 stealth fighters, and thundering cannon fire.

The flattery continued inside the Oval Office, as Trump called the Saudi a “very good friend” and hailed him as being “incredible, in terms of human rights, and everything else.”

The two countries later signed a host of deals, including a civil nuclear cooperation agreement that the White House said would last decades.

Trump also approved a “major defense sale package” which includes “future deliveries” of F-35s. They also agreed to share AI technology “while protecting US technology from foreign influence.”

- Business interests -

Trump said he had also pushed Prince Mohammed to normalize relations with Israel through the Abraham Accords, as he seeks to turn the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza into a longer-lasting regional peace.

The Saudi said he wanted to join the accords – Trump’s signature diplomatic achievement during his first term – but first needed a “clear path” to Palestinian statehood.

Prince Mohammed has fostered close ties with Trump and his family over the years, including through investment pledges to the property billionaire-turned-US president.

Trump denied any conflicts of interest, a day after a Saudi developer announced a new hotel partnership in the Maldives with the Trump Organization, which is run by his sons.

“I have nothing to do with the family business. I have left,” Trump said.