GOP/MEDIA/SAUDI ARABIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TURKEY: “The suspected murder of a prominent Saudi journalist exposed a growing rift on Thursday [10-11-18] between the White House and Congress over American policy on Saudi Arabia, as Republican lawmakers demanded an investigation of Jamal Khashoggi’s whereabouts even as President Trump declared his relations with Riyadh ‘excellent.’ The Saudi-led, United States-backed bombing campaign of Houthi rebels in Yemen — which has killed thousands of civilians — was already a source of tension between Congress and the Trump administration. But last week’s disappearance of Mr. Khashoggi, a well-connected Saudi columnist for The Washington Post living in Virginia, has incensed Republicans and Democrats in Congress, who accused the White House of moving too slowly in pressing the kingdom for answers..Earlier on Thursday, in an interview with ‘Fox & Friends,’ Mr. Trump said American investigators were working with Turkish and Saudi officials to determine what happened to Mr. Khashoggi, who has not been seen since he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.”
-Edward Wong, Eric Schmitt and Eileen Sullivan, “Trump Calls Relations With Saudi Arabia ‘Excellent,’ While Congress Is Incensed,” The New York Times online, October 11, 2018