The widow of slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi has issued a direct challenge to Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, demanding he personally apologize after describing the 2018 killing as a "huge mistake" during his White House visit.
Widow's Direct Challenge to Saudi Crown Prince
Hanan Elatr Khashoggi took to social media platform X on Tuesday, November 18, 2025, to deliver her message to the Saudi leader. "The Crown Prince said he was sorry so he should meet me, apologize and compensate me for the murder of my husband," she wrote in her post that has since gained significant international attention.
Her statement came hours after Mohammed bin Salman, during his first White House visit in seven years, addressed the killing that had drawn global condemnation and strained US-Saudi relations.
MBS Calls Killing 'Painful' and 'Huge Mistake'
During the Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump, the Saudi crown prince described Khashoggi's death as "painful and a huge mistake." He asserted that Saudi Arabia had "done all the right steps" to investigate the journalist's death and was "doing our best that this doesn't happen again."
The meeting marked MBS's first White House visit since the 2018 incident where Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and prominent critic of the Saudi leadership, was killed by Saudi agents inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Trump Defends Saudi Crown Prince
President Donald Trump offered strong support for the Saudi leader during their meeting, directly contradicting US intelligence assessments that had implicated the crown prince in the killing. "Whether you like him or don't like him, things happen," Trump told reporters, insisting that MBS "knew nothing about it."
The president went further in his defense, describing Khashoggi as "extremely controversial" and noting that "a lot of people didn't like that gentleman that you're talking about." Trump praised MBS's leadership and human rights record, calling him "an extremely respected man" and "a very good friend of mine."
Background of the Khashoggi Case
The killing of Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018 had created significant diplomatic tensions between the United States and Saudi Arabia. Declassified US intelligence findings released in 2021 concluded that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman did likely approve the operation targeting the journalist.
However, the Trump administration had refused to make these findings public during Trump's first term, maintaining a close relationship with the Saudi leadership despite international outcry over what was widely seen as a state-sanctioned killing of a dissident.
The case continues to draw international attention as human rights organizations and press freedom advocates monitor developments in US-Saudi relations and accountability for the killing.
