"It is what it is," U.S. President Donald Trump says of the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, in his latest effort to exculpate Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — and to wash his own hands of the controversy.

The president's musings about the prince's involvement ("maybe he did it, and maybe he didn't") contradict the Central Intelligence Agency's finding that MBS, as he is known, ordered the killing. It also flies in the face of Trump's own claim to be protecting American interests.

His 635-word statement last Tuesday implies, if inarticulately, that more pressure on MBS would hurt the U.S. economy, because the prince would cancel contracts with American arms manufacturers and turn to suppliers in Russia and China.