Holiday Ayo - US President Donald Trump has defended Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince, Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), over the horrific murder of US-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents. Trump also praised the prince's human rights record.

"A lot of people don't like the man you're talking about. Whether you like him or not, a lot of things happened, but he (the prince) didn't know anything about it," Trump told reporters, as reported by the AFP news agency on Wednesday (November 19).

Trump reportedly reprimanded a reporter who asked about the scandal, ordering them not to bring it up.

"You don't have to embarrass our guest by asking questions like that," he said.

While receiving Prince MBS in the Oval Office, Trump praised him as a good friend. Trump also said that Prince Mohammed bin Salman had done an "incredible" job on "human rights, and everything else."

Khashoggi was murdered in 2018 inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. The murder and dismemberment of the journalist, who had previously been critical of the Saudi government, sparked a diplomatic crisis and drew criticism from Trump, who was then serving his first term.

Prince Mohammed bin Salman said at the White House that the murder was "painful and a terrible mistake, and we are doing everything we can to prevent this from happening again."