Trump takes wait and see approach to Khashoggi case

This is a rush transcript from "Special Report with Bret Baier," October 17, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

SECRETARY OF STATE MIKE POMPEO: I keep hearing that we are giving them some benefit of the doubt. They are going to do an investigation. And when that investigation is out, we'll evaluate it. We will evaluate this on the factual, straight up basis.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: A tremendous purchaser of not only military equipment but other things. When I went there, they committed to purchase $450 billion worth of things, and $110 billion worth of military. They are an important ally, but I want to find out what happened.

We have asked for it, if it exists. We have asked for it.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

BRET BAIER, ANCHOR: They've asked for tapes and audiotapes, videotapes from Turkish officials who have been briefing reporters on the ground about what they call gruesome circumstances in the killing, they say, of Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist, in the consulate in Istanbul. But what is going to happen to the administration as it plays out?

Let's bring in our panel: Charles Hurt, opinion editor for The Washington Times; Jonathan Swan, national politics reporter for Axios, and Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen. Marc, your thoughts on this?

MARC THIESSEN, WASHINGTON POST: So if this did in fact happen, and it was MBS, the crown prince, who was behind it, first of all, it's a horrific crime. But second, it's a massive betrayal of Donald Trump. Donald Trump has really invested himself in both in the crown prince and in Saudi Arabia. He made his first visit to that country, he's backed his reforms. And so this would be, to go and actually kill and dismember an American permanent resident who was very closely tied into Washington is a big deal.

BAIER: John?

JONATHAN SWAN, AXIOS: We are seeing the resistance from Trump is because of exactly what Marc said, which they have invested a lot in this guy. They put a huge bet on him. It's not just President Trump. It's Jared Kushner. When he came in, he formed a personal bond with MBS, the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, very much as the administration bought into the idea that he was a visionary reformer. Some of us in the media, certainly columnists and opinion makers have bought into that vision. And now they've got this cognitive dissonance, this new information that is so at odds with his public image. And you are seeing Trump wrestle with this publicly.

BAIER: The president has said, Charlie, that he is not trying to cover up, he's waiting for facts and information. He said that if it turns out that the crown prince knew, that would be bad, in his words. The secretary of state tried to walk the line in the strip before he comes back. Take a listen to the investigation statements.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POMPEO: I don't want to talk about any of the facts. They didn't want to either, and that they want to have the opportunity to complete this investigation in a thorough way. We need to know the facts before we can begin to formulate what the appropriate response for this would be. We just need to make sure that we are mindful of that as we approach decisions that the United States government will take when we learn all the facts associated with whatever may have taken place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: He had to kind of walk it back today because he wants to know the facts. They didn't want to talk about it because the investigation, they say, is still continuing.

CHARLES HURT, WASHINGTON TIMES: I do get the sense, though, that they realize that there are pretty high stakes here. But what we are seeing from President Trump is what we've seen from presidents ever since 9/11 and even before that who are -- they understand that it's a terrible thing to go around killing people in this fashion, and killing especially somebody who was an American permanent resident and a journalist.

But I think he is also, like previous presidents, concerned about other things, like business interest, like oil in the region. The difference between him and predecessors is Trump actually comes out and just says it, which is kind of shocking to the political system, I think. But he's also concerned about the American economy and $7 gasoline, a gallon gasoline. And those are totally legitimate things for him to be concerned about.

But I do think that they are -- I do think that they realize how serious this is and that they are -- this is not something they can get sweep it under the rug.

BAIER: Go ahead.

SWAN: I was going to say again to help explain how Trump sees this. The way Trump sees it, he's always comparing to other countries. So the way he sees it is, you know, there are all these other brutal countries like China and they are doing all that stuff. So why are people -- again, that's how he often thinks about these things. It's everyone is a hypocrite because we do a ton of business with, pick your country, and they do horrible things, too, et cetera, et cetera. I'm not trying to excuse it. That's just how he views the situation.

BAIER: And that is problematic for Capitol Hill left and right so far from what we are hearing.

THIESSEN: Sure. There are three facts in play here. Number one, this is a horrific crime that can't get swept under the rug. There are going to be consequences. Even the president would want to impose consequences. Congress is going to insist on some consequences.

Number two, we need Saudi Arabia, not so much for oil because of the fracking revolution we are much more energy independent than we were a few years ago, but we need them to contain Iran. There is no other country in the region that can be a counterweight to Iran.

And three, MBS isn't going anywhere. This is a monarchy, not a democracy. He is the son of the king. He has spent the last couple of years consolidating power and eliminating opponents. I love Lindsey Graham, but the idea that someone else is going to replace MBS is wrong.

So with that set of facts, what's going to happen here is they are going to come up with a lie that this is some rogue element and we are going to accept the lie in some way, shape, or form. And the question is, what is the price for accepting the lie, where there is going to be some sign from MBS recognizing, showing us that he knows he made a mistake, that he knows he's made his country a pariah, and that he's going to take steps to make sure this doesn't happen again, releasing political prisoners, taking some steps to show that he's learned his lesson and this is not going to go forward.

BAIER: I know, but that's not going to fly with a lot of people on Capitol Hill, is it? Is that going to work?

HURT: No. but this is always a much easier issue on Capitol Hill. They can vote 100 to nothing in the Senate to levy sanctions on Saudi Arabia.

BAIER: President Trump still has to sign it.

HURT: Yes, exactly. But the president, and again we've seen this, Democrat administrations and Republican administrations, presidents don't like to mess with this tiger because of -- and you are right. There have been -- we are far more energy independent today that we were on 9/11. But there are still the other local political ramifications. And then the business interests that Donald Trump mentions at the outset.

BAIER: But does this not feel like a different kind of event?

SWAN: A hundred percent, of course it does.

BAIER: This feels like the world is watching. Perhaps it's the gruesome nature of the crime, perhaps it's what we know of it. Obviously, the Turks, the Iranians, Qatar, they are all trying to fuel the story because they don't like Saudi Arabia particularly. It's a different animal.

SWAN: It's a very different animal, and I think it took them a while to realize that. I think there was at least initially it didn't dawn on them that this was something quite different. I'm told by a source with knowledge of the meeting that Mike Pompeo told MBS in very direct language that there isn't some endless timeline here. They need to get this investigation done pretty quickly.

THIESSEN: This is like Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un who are the only two other leaders in the world who assassinate their foreign rivals, their internal rivals on foreign territory, except they are not stupid enough to do it in their own consulate. This is both a horrific crime and also amateur. It's amateur hour. He's a discount Vladimir Putin. And there has to be consequences for this. There are going to have to be consequences, but we also cannot lose our relationship with Saudi Arabia because the number one challenge we have in the Middle East is Iran and countering Iran, not getting on Saudi Arabia.

BAIER: It's a very serious story. A lot of reaction from Capitol Hill, but Senator John Kennedy from Louisiana moment ago with this. With the exception of Israel, I trust every country in the Middle East as much as I trust gas station sushi.

(LAUGHTER)

BAIER: So that may be the statement of the day. We can always count on Senator Kennedy.

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