Police searching the Saudi Consulate have found evidence that Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi was killed there, a high-level Turkish official said.
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Officials also appear ready to search the nearby residence of the consul general after the diplomat left the country.
The comment by the Turkish official to The Associated Press intensified pressure on Saudi Arabia to explain what happened to Khashoggi, who vanished October 2 while visiting the consulate to pick up paperwork he needed to get married.
President Donald Trump said after a phone call with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that he "totally denied any knowledge of what took place in their Turkish Consulate."
The crown prince "told me that he has already started, and will rapidly expand, a full and complete investigation into this matter. Answers will be forthcoming shortly," Trump said in a tweet.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo travelled to Saudi Arabia to talk to King Salman and the 33-year-old crown prince about the fate of the journalist who wrote critically about the Saudis for the Washington Post.
While it was all smiles and handshakes in Riyadh, one prominent Republican senator said he believed that the crown prince, widely known as MBS, had Khashoggi "murdered."
"This guy has got to go," said Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, speaking on Fox television.
"Saudi Arabia, if you're listening, there are a lot of good people you can choose, but MBS has tainted your country and tainted himself."
Attorney General Jeff Sessions said "serious evaluation" was being given to whether US law enforcement officials would aid in the investigation of Khashoggi's disappearance. He declined to comment further, or to say whether he had any concerns with the current investigation.
Saudi officials have called Turkish allegations that a team of 15 Saudi agents killed Khashoggi "baseless," but US media reports suggested that the kingdom may acknowledge the writer was killed at the consulate, perhaps as part of a botched interrogation.
The close US ally is ruled entirely by the Al Saud monarchy, and all major decisions in the ultraconservative kingdom are made by the royal family.
The high-level Turkish official told the AP that police found "certain evidence" of Khashoggi's slaying at the consulate, without elaborating. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing.
Police planned a second search at the Saudi consul general's home, as well as some of the country's diplomatic vehicles, Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said. Leaked surveillance video show diplomatic cars travelled to the consul general's home shortly after Khashoggi went into the consulate.
Consul General Mohammed al-Otaibi left Turkey on Tuesday afternoon, state media reported, just as police began putting up barricades around his official residence. Saudi Arabia did not immediately acknowledge he had left or offer a reason for his departure.
Australian Associated Press