Trump says it appears Saudi journalist Khashoggi is dead

United States President Donald Trump said he assumes that disappeared Saudi Arabia journalist Jamal Khashoggi is likely to be dead and said if Saudi Arabia found behind this consequences would be 'very severe'.

While leaving for a campaign rally in Montana president said "It certainly looks that way to me. It's very sad," he added.  If Saudi Arabia is found responsible for Khashoggi's death, Trump will consider "very severe consequences" for the oil rich U.S. ally, Trump said.

Trump is facing mounting criticism from lawmakers for taking too soft a stance on the kingdom's conduct. Some members of Congress have called for sanctions on Saudi Arabia, which Trump has resisted as he questions the role of that country's regime in Khashoggi's disappearance.

On Thursday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said president wanted to give Saudi Arabia "a few more days to complete" an investigation into what happened. At the time, he did not answer reporters' questions about whether Khashoggi died.

"I would not attend an international investing conference in Saudi Arabia," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Thursday. The media organisations, as well as leading financial figures such as IMF Chief Christine Lagarde and J.P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, have dropped out of the event.

The 60-year-old Khashoggi, who lived in Virginia and wrote for The Washington Post, has not been seen since he went to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. Turkish officials have accused Saudi agents of murdering and dismembering Khashoggi. Saudi Arabia initially denied killing the journalist. It now says it is investigating the circumstances of his disappearance.

Trump's response to the writer's disappearance has sparked comparisons to how he has spoken deferentially about other autocratic leaders accused of human rights abuses, such as Russia's Vladimir Putin and North Korea's Kim Jong Un. On Tuesday, the president told The Associated Press that he saw a case of "you're guilty until proven innocent."