STORY: The wife of Jamal Khashoggi, Hanan Elatr Khashoggi, told Reuters on Tuesday (November 18) she was upset by U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent defense of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Trump said on Tuesday that Mohammed bin Salman knew nothing about the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents, offering a fierce defense of the visiting Saudi crown prince that contradicted a U.S. intelligence assessment.

Trump's treatment of bin Salman prompted a rebuke from Khashoggi's widow. "Nothing (can) justify just a horrible crime ... because he's controversial or he's unliked by someone," Hanan Elatr Khashoggi told Reuters, adding that she wished Trump would meet with her so she could introduce him to the "real Jamal."

She also expressed mixed emotions about Mohammed bin Salman’s return to the White House.

“They can welcome him…but…do not neglect the unfinished business about Jamal’s tragedy,” she said, noting there has been “no real action” to bring accountability. She noted that the crown prince in a 2019 interview on the CBS program “60 Minutes” took accountability for Khashoggi’s murder, but took no further steps. In that interview, bin Salman took responsibility for the murder as a leader of Saudi Arabia but denied any direct involvement.

The White House, the Saudi Embassy in Washington, and the Saudi government’s media office could not immediately be reached for comment.

Bin Salman has been strongly criticized by human rights groups not only for the Khashoggi killing but for his crackdown on dissent at home. But the crown prince has also unleashed major social reforms that have swept away some austere social codes.

The meeting underscores a key relationship - between the world's biggest economy and the top oil exporter - that Trump has made a high priority in his second term as the international uproar around the killing of Khashoggi has gradually faded.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

VIDEO SHOWS: INTERVIEW WITH HANAN ELATR KHASHOGGI, WIDOW OF WASHINGTON POST JOURNALIST JAMAL KHASHOGGI

RESENDING WITH COMPLETE SCRIPT

SHOWS: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (NOVEMBER 18, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

1. VARIOUS OF JAMAL KHASHOGGI’S WIDOW, HANAN ELATR KHASHOGGI, AND HER ATTORNEY, RANDA FAHMY WALKING

2. (SOUNDBITE) (English) JAMAL KHASHOGGI’S WIDOW, HANAN ELATR KHASHOGGI, SAYING IN RESPONSE TO QUESTION ABOUT TRUMP DEFENDING SAUDI CROWN PRINCE MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN:

“His justification for the crime upsets me, and since nothing to justify just a horrible crime, kidnapping, torture and killing and dismantle a body because he’s controversial or he is unliked by someone…it doesn't give a reason to any criminal to take some innocent person's life away.”

3. HANAN ELATR KHASHOGGI SITTING ON BENCH BEING INTERVIEWED

4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) JAMAL KHASHOGGI’S WIDOW, HANAN ELATR KHASHOGGI, SAYING IN RESPONSE TO QUESTION ABOUT IF SHE HEARD WHAT TRUMP SAID IN THE OVAL OFFICE MEETING WITH MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN EARLIER IN THE DAY:

“I felt very bad because he described someone else, not Jamal. And I wish one day I meet with the President Trump and I introduce the real Jamal to him and I share with him what is real Jamal. How he has been transparent, brave, great man.”

ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA, UNITED STATES (FILE - JUNE 2, 2018) (HANAN ELATR KHASHOGGI - Access all) (MUTE)

5. VARIOUS STILL WEDDING PHOTOS OF JAMAL KHASHOGGI AND HANAN ELATR KHASHOGGI

WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (NOVEMBER 18, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

6. (SOUNDBITE) (English) JAMAL KHASHOGGI’S WIDOW, HANAN ELATR KHASHOGGI, SAYING IN RESPONSE TO QUESTION ABOUT MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN BEING WELCOMED INTO THE WHITE HOUSE AND HER REACTION:

“I did have a mixed feeling. I felt very sore because I wished Jamal is still alive and safe and he's here to receive him because Jamal believed in him a lot. And Jamal, in fact, in 2018 and the first visit of the Crown Prince to the US, Jamal was waiting for invitation from US, from the Crown Prince, to share with him his opinion and his vision and to rectify any misinformation being told to the Crown Prince. And in another hand, I did feel this what Jamal wished in the sense he wanted Saudi Arabia not to be a pariah country and to have a normal relation with the rest of the world, especially USA.”

7. JAMAL KHASHOGGI’S, HANAN ELATR KHASHOGGI, AND HER ATTORNEY, RANDA FAHMY WALKING ON THE STREET

8. (SOUNDBITE) (English) JAMAL KHASHOGGI’S WIDOW, HANAN ELATR KHASHOGGI, SAYING IN RESPONSE TO QUESTION ABOUT MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN BEING WELCOMED TO WASHINGTON:

“They can welcome him. They can have a deal with him, selling him a weapon….which is the way Jamal liked it. Jamal wanted his country to be safe and to be advanced. But in same time do not neglect totally the unfinished business about Jamal's tragedy because nothing…no real action being taken to bring justice for Jamal or myself. Since the Crown Prince admitted verbally in 60 Minutes to 2019, he took responsibility but he didn't do any step farther (NOTE: Mrs. Khashoggi is referring to Mohammed Bin Salman taking responsibility as a leader in Saudi Arabia but denied direct involvement for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in the 2019 interview on CBS program ‘60 Minutes'). There is no transparent trial happened. My (unintelligible)...he is representing me. I'm not, I did not get an official apology. I did not get financial compensation (NOTE: Reuters could not independently verify if Mrs. Khashoggi received compensation). In fact, they destroyed my life.”

9. HANAN ELATR KHASHOGGI BEING INTERVIEWED

10. (SOUNDBITE) (English) JAMAL KHASHOGGI’S WIDOW, HANAN ELATR KHASHOGGI, SAYING IN RESPONSE TO WHAT JUSTICE MEANS TO HER:

“Justice is very hard to get it. It is very, very long battle. And as a woman standing alone, it's very hard. This is what it looks to me. But it will not stop me to persist until I get justice for myself because I'm the second, I'm the second victim basically. They killed Jamal and they kill me in the same day they killed Jamal.”

ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA, UNITED STATES (FILE - JUNE 2, 2018) (HANAN ELATR KHASHOGGI - Access all) (MUTE)

11. VARIOUS STILL WEDDING PHOTOS OF JAMAL KHASHOGGI AND HANAN ELATR KHASHOGGI

UNKNOWN LOCATION (UNKNOWN DATE) (HANAN ELATR KHASHOGGI - Access all) (MUTE)

12. STILL PHOTO OF JAMAL KHASHOGGI AND HANAN ELATR KHASHOGGI

GRAPHIC (NOVEMBER 18, 2025) (REUTERS – Access All) (MUTE)

13. GRAPHIC READING (English): “The White House, Saudi embassy in Washington DC and Saudi government’s media office couldn’t be immediately reached for comments.”