'I saved his ass': Trump bragged that he protected Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman after Jamal Khashoggi's brutal murder

President Donald Trump bragged that he protected Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman from congressional scrutiny after the brutal assassination of the American journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

That's according to the veteran reporter Bob Woodward's upcoming book, "Rage," set to be released next Tuesday. Insider obtained a copy of the book.

Woodward wrote that Trump called him on January 22 shortly after attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. During the conversation, Woodward pressed the president about Khashoggi's gruesome murder.

Khashoggi, 59, a longtime Washington Post columnist known for his criticism of the Saudi kingdom, was assassinated and dismembered at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018, after going there to get paperwork for his upcoming marriage.

The CIA concluded a little over a month later that Prince Mohammed, also known as MBS, had personally ordered Khashoggi's murder.

"The people at the Post are upset about the Khashoggi killing," Woodward told Trump on January 22, his book says. "That is one of the most gruesome things. You yourself have said."

"Yeah, but Iran is killing 36 people a day, so —" Trump began, before Woodward redirected the conversation and continued to press Trump about MBS's role in ordering Khashoggi's killing.

"I saved his ass," Trump had said amid the US outcry following Khashoggi's murder. I was able to get Congress to leave him alone. I was able to get them to stop."

During his January 22 conversation with Woodward, the president said: "Well, I understand what you're saying, and I've gotten involved very much. I know everything about the whole situation."

Trump added that Saudi Arabia spent billions of dollars on US products.

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