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 happen

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