President Donald Trump said Tuesday his decision not to punish Saudi Arabia for the murder of a journalist came down to four words: Make America Great Again.
"It's America first for me. It's all about America first. We're not gonna give up hundreds of billions of dollars in orders and let Russia, China, and everybody else have them," Trump told reporters outside the White House before starting his journey to Florida to celebrate Thanksgiving.
"Saudi Arabia, if we broke with them, I think your oil prices would go through the roof. I've kept them down, they've helped me keep them down. Right now we have low oil prices, or relatively [low]. I'd like to see it go down even lower. It's a very simple equation for me: I'm about Make America Great Again, and I'm about America first."
A report last week claimed the CIA concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered a hit team to murder Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident journalist and U.S. resident who had been writing columns for The Washington Post.
Trump pushed back on the report earlier Tuesday, saying the CIA did not make a firm determination whether Mohammed was behind Khashoggi's death, which occurred at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in early October. During his conversation with reporters in front of the White House, Trump said he needs to approach the situation with a wider view.
"I'm not going to destroy the world economy, and I'm not gonna destroy the economy for our country by being foolish with Saudi Arabia," Trump said.
"If we abandon Saudi Arabia it would be a terrible mistake."
The president noted that Saudi Arabia is investing in U.S. goods and services to the tune of billions of dollars, a chunk of money he does not want to leave on the table.