--- title: Kushner: White House Fact-Finding in Jamal Khashoggi Murder description: Jared Kushner said the White House is gathering facts on Jamal Khashoggi’s murder as they work to preserve an alliance with Saudi Arabia. canonical: https://time.com/5431003/jared-kushner-khashoggi/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-10-22T17:09:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T21:48:21.389Z article:section: Politics og:title: Kushner Says White House Is Still Gathering Facts on the Murder of Journalist Jamal Khashoggi og:description: Kushner said he had advised Prince Mohammed to be 'transparent' og:url: https://time.com/5431003/jared-kushner-khashoggi/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd87ce0f4acc32604/69893d2a096a940e2c6a3bca/jared-kushner-trump-saudi-arabia.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: jared-kushner-trump-saudi-arabia og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Kushner Says White House Is Still Gathering Facts on the Murder of Journalist Jamal Khashoggi twitter:description: Kushner said he had advised Prince Mohammed to be 'transparent' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd87ce0f4acc32604/69893d2a096a940e2c6a3bca/jared-kushner-trump-saudi-arabia.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Kushner Says White House Is Still Gathering Facts on the Murder of Journalist Jamal Khashoggi by [Jennifer Epstein / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Jennifer Epstein / Bloomberg Contributor Oct 22, 2018 5:09 PM UTC  White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner listens as President Donald Trump makes an announcement in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on Oct. 1, 2018. White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner listens as President Donald Trump makes an announcement in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on Oct. 1, 2018.Pablo Martinez Monsivais—AP/REX/Shutterstock by [Jennifer Epstein / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Jennifer Epstein / Bloomberg Contributor Oct 22, 2018 5:09 PM UTC (Bloomberg) — Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, said the White House is still gathering facts on journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s murder and wants to preserve the U.S. alliance with Saudi Arabia, downplaying the role of the kingdom’s government in the death. “I see things that are deceptive every day,” he said Monday at a CNN event in New York after he was asked if the Saudi government had been deceptive about Khashoggi’s death in its Istanbul consulate. “I see them in the Middle East, I see them in Washington.” “We have our eyes wide open,” he added. Kushner has developed a personal relationship with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, who some Republican senators have said is responsible, directly or not, for Khashoggi’s death. The Saudis admitted late Friday that the dissident writer had died after what they said was a fight within the consulate, where he sought to obtain a document related to his planned wedding. Kushner said he had advised Prince Mohammed to be “transparent” about the incident. Asked whether the administration is reassessing the crown prince as an ally, Kushner said that “once we have all the facts then we’ll make an assessment.” “Right now as an administration we’re more in the fact-finding phase and we’re obviously getting as many facts as we can from the different places,” Kushner said. “We have to be able to work with our allies, and Saudi Arabia has I think been a very strong ally.” He said the kingdom has helped the U.S. combat Iranian influence in the Mideast. Saudi Arabia and Iran are engaged in what amounts to a proxy war in Yemen, where they are supporting opposing sides in a bloody civil war. 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