UNITED STATES President Donald Trump on Tuesday dismissed his own country’s intelligence findings that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman likely had some culpability in the 2018 killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

This came as President Trump warmly welcomed the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia on his first White House visit in seven years.

The US-Saudi relationship had, for a time, been sent into a tailspin by the operation targeting Khashoggi, a fierce critic of the kingdom.

But seven years later, Mr Trump slammed Khashoggi as “extremely controversial” and said “a lot of people didn’t like that gentleman.”

Prince Mohammed denies involvement in the killing of Khashoggi, who was a Saudi citizen and Virginia resident.

“Whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen,” Mr Trump said when asked about the killing by a reporter during an Oval Office appearance with Prince Mohammed.

“But [Prince Mohammed] knew nothing about it. And we can leave it at that. You don’t have to embarrass our guest by asking a question like that.”

But US intelligence officials determined that the Saudi crown prince likely approved the killing by Saudi agents of Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, according to US findings declassified in 2021 at the start of the Biden administration.

During his first administration, Trump officials refused to release the report.

Prince Mohammed said Saudi Arabia “did all the right steps” to investigate Khashoggi’s death.

“It’s painful and it’s a huge mistake,” he said.

But the comments by Mr Trump about Khashoggi’s killing were blasted by human rights groups.

Raed Jarrar, advocacy director for Democracy for the Arab World Now, a US-based group advocating for democracy and human rights in the Arab world that was founded by Khashoggi, slammed Mr Trump and accused him of having “Jamal Khashoggi’s blood on his hands.”