WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump on Wednesday demanded Saudi Arabiaprovide answers over the disappearance of journalist and US resident JamalKhashoggi, whom Turkish officials suspect was murdered after entering theSaudi consulate in Istanbul.

The Trump administration sharply upped the pressure, reversing an initiallylow key response after Washington Post contributor Khashoggi vanished onOctober 2.

Trump said he had talked “more than once” and “at the highest levels” topartners in Saudi Arabia, which is one of Washington s closest allies and akey market for the US weapons industry.

“We re demanding everything,” Trump told reporters. “We cannot let thishappen, to reporters, to anybody.”

“We are very disappointed to see what s going on. We don t like it andwe re going to get to the bottom of it,” he added.

Twenty-two senators wrote to Trump invoking the Global Magnitsky HumanRights Accountability Act, which requires the president to open aninvestigation and determine whether sanctions should be imposed.

The act is used in cases of suspected “extrajudicial killing, torture, orother gross violation of internationally recognized human rights against anindividual exercising freedom of expression,” the senators said.

Trump spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said National Security Advisor John Bolton,Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Trump s close aide and son-in-law JaredKushner had all spoken to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the pasttwo days.

US officials have not confirmed Turkish claims that Khashoggi, a USresident and one of the more outspoken critics of the regime of King Salmanand his son Prince Mohammed, had been lured to the Istanbul consulate andmurdered by a team of 15 government operatives sent by Riyadh to Istanbul.

The case has sparked outrage from human rights and journalism groups.

In the calls by Bolton, Kushner and Pompeo, Sanders said, “they asked formore details and for the Saudi government to be transparent in theinvestigation process.”

Trump also said he was looking into a meeting in the White House withKhashoggi s fiancee Hatice Cengiz.

US peace activists Code Pink mounted a protest in front of the SaudiEmbassy in Washington Wednesday, brandishing signs saying “Where is JamalKhashoggi?” and “Khashoggi: Another Victim of Saudi Violence.”

“We are very very disturbed” by Khashoggi s disappearance, said Code Pinkfounder Meda Benjamin.

“We think that there is very little hope that Jamal is still alive.”

The Washington Post, where Khashoggi has been a regular contributor overthe past year, also called for answers.

“Reports about Jamal s fate have suggested he was a victim ofstate-sponsored, cold-blooded murder,” said Post publisher and chiefexecutive Fred Ryan.

“Silence, denials and delays are not acceptable. We demand to know thetruth,” he added.

Khashoggi, 59, is a longtime leading Saudi journalist and former governmentadvisor who went into exile last year after 33-year-old Prince Mohammedrose to power underneath his father the king.

He has been critical of the monarchy s continued arrest of critics on boththe left and right, despite its professed reforms.

He has also repeatedly assailed Riyadh s role leading the war againstYemen s Huthi rebels, a campaign closely identified with Prince Mohammedthat has resulted in thousands of civilian deaths and generated a majorhumanitarian disaster.

Khashoggi was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to obtainpapers for his pending marriage to Cengiz, who is Turkish.

In his last interview three days before his disappearance, he said he didnot think he would return to Saudi Arabia.

“When I hear of the arrest of a friend who did nothing that (deservedbeing) arrested, it makes me feel I shouldn t go,” he told the BBC.

Riyadh insisted that Khashoggi left the building and called the murderclaims “baseless.”

Turkish investigators say they have CCTV footage showing him entering theconsulate, but not leaving.

A source told the Washington Post that US intelligence “interceptedcommunications of Saudi officials discussing a plan to capture him.”

The Saudis hoped to “lure” Khashoggi to Saudi Arabia “and lay hands on himthere,” the source told the Post.

But State Department deputy spokesman Robert Palladino told reporters theyhad no such tip.

“The US had no advance knowledge of Jamal Khashoggi s disappearance” or ofany kind of threat, he said Wednesday.

The issue threatened the strong relationship the Trump administration hasconstructed with Prince Mohammed.

The two sides have cooperated on challenging Iran, on supporting Israel andon the war against the Huthis.

But Prince Mohammed has drawn growing scrutiny over his campaign againstcritics.

Reporters Without Borders said in a statement that between 25 and 30professional and non-professional journalists are currently detained inSaudi Arabia. – APP/AFP