US President Donald Trump has spoken to Saudi King Salman over the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and has ordered Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to “immediately get on a plane” to Saudi Arabia to discuss the situation with the monarch.

After tweeting the development Monday, Trump told White House reporters that the King had “firmly denied any knowledge” of the journalist’s whereabouts. Jamal Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post and a Saudi royal insider-turned-critic, entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on October 2 and has not been seen since.

“It wasn’t like there was a question in his mind. The denial was very strong,” Trump said of King Salman.

“It sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers, who knows. We are going to try to get to the bottom of it very soon,” Trump said. “But his was a flat denial.”

Turkish authorities believe 15 Saudi men who arrived in Istanbul on October 2 were connected to Khashoggi’s disappearance and possible murder. At least some of them appear to have high-level connections in the Saudi government.

Saudi authorities maintain Jamal Khashoggi left the consulate the same afternoon of his visit, but have provided no evidence of that. Khashoggi’s fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, who was waiting outside the consulate, says she did not see him re-emerge.

International pressure is mounting on Riyadh to explain the journalist’s disappearance, in a case that has created a diplomatic rift between Saudi and the West.

The UK, France and Germany have demanded a “credible investigation” into the events and Trump on Sunday warned of serious retribution if the Saudis were found to be behind his possible death.

“There’s something really terrible and disgusting about that if that were the case. So we’re going to have to see,” Trump said in a “60 Minutes” interview broadcast Sunday. “We’re going to get to the bottom of it and there will be severe punishment.”

Saudi officials threatened to retaliate if the US imposed sanctions, but Riyadh later softened its tone.

The case has also caused friction between Saudi Arabia and Turkey, which has repeatedly accused the Saudis of failing to cooperate with their investigation.

A source familiar with the ongoing investigation told CNN on Friday that Turkish authorities have audio and visual evidence that shows journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate.

Saudi officials have granted permission for its consulate to be searched Monday afternoon, a Turkish diplomatic source told CNN. They first granted permission last week but asked for a delay. Turkish officials also want to search the nearby consul general’s residence.

Turkish investigators are pushing for complete access for forensic teams to enter both premises, according to Turkish media reports. It was unclear whether the Saudis would allow the comprehensive search at both locations.

The search developments come a day after King Salman called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss the case. The two leaders agreed on a joint working group to look into the journalist’s disappearance.

The Saudi official said that a royal decree was issued Friday directing the public prosecutor to conduct an internal investigation into the Khashoggi case, based on intelligence shared by Turkey with Saudi Arabia.

The official said that although a joint investigation team was cooperating on the ground, the Saudi “leadership had felt that an internal investigation was needed to make sure no stone is left unturned to unfold the truth.”

After tweeting the development Monday, Trump told White House reporters that the King had “firmly denied any knowledge” of the journalist’s whereabouts. Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post and a Saudi royal insider-turned-critic, entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on October 2 and has not been seen since.

“It wasn’t like there was a question in his mind. The denial was very strong,” Trump said of King Salman.

A source familiar with the ongoing investigation told CNN on Friday that Turkish authorities have audio and visual evidence that shows journalist Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate.

Saudi Arabia begins to cooperate

Saudi officials have granted permission for its consulate to be searched Monday afternoon, a Turkish diplomatic source told CNN. They first granted permission last week but asked for a delay. Turkish officials also want to search the nearby consul general’s residence.

Turkish investigators are pushing for complete access for forensic teams to enter both premises, according to Turkish media reports. It was unclear whether the Saudis would allow the comprehensive search at both locations.

The search developments come a day after King Salman called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss the case. The two leaders agreed on a joint working group to look into the journalist’s disappearance.

The Saudi official said that a royal decree was issued Friday directing the public prosecutor to conduct an internal investigation into the Khashoggi case, based on intelligence shared by Turkey with Saudi Arabia.

The official said that although a joint investigation team was cooperating on the ground, the Saudi “leadership had felt that an internal investigation was needed to make sure no stone is left unturned to unfold the truth.”

International companies pull out

Saudi Arabia’s stock market fell as much as 7% on Sunday amid fears of sanctions. The index recovered some ground later to close 3.5% down.

The market’s drop of as much as 9% since Jamal Khashoggi vanished has wiped out all the market’s gains in 2018, although it is still up 8% from a year ago.

Amid the diplomatic fallout over Khashoggi’s disappearance, international firms are pulling out of a high-profile investment summit, the Future Investment Initiative conference, dubbed “Davos in the Desert,” due to take place later this month in Riyadh and to be hosted by Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The latest high-profile invitee to say they would not attend the conference was the CEO of JP Morgan Chase, Jamie Dimon, a spokesperson confirmed Sunday.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday declined to confirm whether US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin would still be attending the conference in Riyadh, saying the US would “continue to evaluate the facts” t make a decision.

British foreign minister Jeremy Hunt on Sunday urged Saudi Arabia to explain what happened to Jamal Khashoggi, saying: “if they have got nothing to hide, then they will and should cooperate.”

“If, as they say, this terrible murder didn’t happen, then where is Jamal Khashoggi? That’s what the world wants to know,” said Hunt.

Doubts are growing over whether British Trade Secretary Liam Fox will attend the Riyadh conference, the BBC reported Sunday citing diplomatic sources.

But Saudi Arabia has found support in a number of Arab allies, including Oman, Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, which all put out statements Sunday saying they expressed solidarity with Saudi Arabia.

The Palestinian Authority also put out a statement of support.

In a strongly worded op-ed published later on Sunday, Turki Aldakhil, general manager of the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya news channel, warned that if the US imposed sanctions on Riyadh “it will stab its own economy to death,” cause oil prices to reach as high as $200 a barrel, lead Riyadh to permit a Russian military base in the city of Tabuk and drive the Middle East into the arms of Iran.

Faisal bin Farhan, a senior adviser at the Saudi Embassy in Washington, DC, said on his official Twitter account Sunday that the op-ed “did not reflect the thinking of the Saudi leadership.”

Riyadh later tried to soften its confrontational tone.

The Saudi Embassy in Washington said in a tweet Sunday: “To help clarify recently issued Saudi statement, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia extends its appreciation to all, including the US administration, for refraining from jumping to conclusions on the ongoing investigation,” the statement said.

A delegation from Saudi Arabia arrived in Turkey for the investigation into Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency reported Friday.

But last week a senior Turkish official speaking on the condition of anonymity told CNN that the Saudis were not cooperating with the investigation: “They are not open to cooperating.”

‘Working assumption’ is murder

A US official familiar with the intelligence told CNN that the US had intercepts of Saudi officials discussing a plan to lure Jamal Khashoggi back to Saudi Arabia and detain him.

Washington’s “working assumption” is that Jamal Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate in Istanbul, according to a US official familiar with the latest intelligence. “We are pretty clear-eyed it is likely to have happened and it didn’t end well,” the official said.

The source did caution that this was the latest assessment and no conclusions had been made.

However, last week Trump said he was reluctant to take action, particularly on the issue of arms sales. “There are other things we can do,” he told reporters at the White House.

The US signed a nearly $110 billion defence deal with Saudi Arabia in May 2017, when Trump made Saudi Arabia a stop on his first foreign trip as president.

The stop was seen, in part, as an endorsement of the strong relationship between Trump, Jared Kushner — his son-in-law and senior adviser — and bin Salman.

Over the weekend a US senior administration official said that the US hasn’t really dealt much with the Turks on the Jamal Khashoggi investigation yet because US officials, including the embassy staff, mostly focused last week on repatriating American pastor Andrew Brunson, who was accused of plotting a coup attempt against Erdogan.

Now that Brunson is back in the US, the official said Washington is expecting some information from the Turks. The US also still hasn’t heard anything from the Saudis, and are waiting for some information about what happened, the official said.

CNN