US President Donald Trump defended Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Tuesday over the 2018 killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi as he wooed the key ally with a lavish welcome to the White House.

Trump insisted the de facto Saudi leader "knew nothing" about the killing of the Washington Post columnist, after greeting the prince with a flypast of F-35 stealth fighters which he has promised to sell to Riyadh.

The Saudi royal, who came bearing a pledge of a $1 trillion investment in the United States on his first US visit since the killing, said Khashoggi's murder was "painful" and a "huge mistake."

A US intelligence assessment in 2021 concluded that Prince Mohammed had ordered the operation to kill Khashoggi, who was murdered and dismembered inside the Saudi consul

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