'Rogue killers' may have killed Saudi journalist Khashoggi: Trump

Washington: US President Donald Trump said Monday he'd received a strong denial from Saudi Arabia's king of any involvement in the disappearance of a critical journalist and that "rogue killers" might be to blame.

"The denial was very, very strong," Trump told reporters at the White House after talking to King Salman by telephone. "It sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers. Who knows?"

Trump said that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was on his way to Saudi Arabia within the hour to discuss the controversy over journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a contributor to The Washington Post who vanished after visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.