Trump says he doesn’t want to hear audio of Khashoggi killing ‘because it’s a suffering tape’

President Trump said Sunday he doesn’t want to listen to an audio recording that purportedly depicts the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi because it’s “a suffering tape.”

“We have the tape. I don’t want to hear the tape. No reason for me to hear the tape,” Trump said in an interview with “Fox News Sunday.”

Asked why, Trump said “because it’s a suffering tape.”

“It’s a terrible tape,” he added. “I’ve been fully briefed on it. There’s no reason for me to hear it.”

{mosads}The president said he knows everything about the tape because of briefings, and described it as “very violent, very vicious and terrible.”

Turkish authorities have reportedly shared the audio with CIA Director Gina Haspel amid their investigation into Khashoggi’s death. The Washington Post columnist, a U.S. resident, was killed after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.

Turkish officials and many U.S. lawmakers have said they believe Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was involved in Khashoggi’s death, and the Post reported Friday that the CIA has concluded the crown prince ordered the killing.

Asked Sunday if Crown Prince Mohammed lied to him when he denied knowledge of Khashoggi’s death, Trump was noncommittal.

“Who can really know?” Trump said. “But I can say this: he’s got many people now that say he had no knowledge.”

The president pushed back on the potential for a change in the U.S.-Saudi relationship as a result of Khashoggi’s death, saying he wants to “stick with an ally that in many ways has been very good.”