The fiancée of Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist who was killed this month, said she declined an invitation from President Trump to visit the White House.
Hatice Cengiz, a doctoral student in Istanbul, told a Turkish TV broadcaster she rejected Trump’s invitation because she viewed it as one with the goal of influencing public opinion in the U.S., according to BBC.
“I demand that all those involved in this savagery from the highest to the lowest levels are punished and brought to justice,” she added in an interview with Haberturk TV.
BBC noted that Cengiz said she has not been contacted by Saudi officials and that she would likely not travel to Saudi Arabia for a funeral if Khashoggi’s body is discovered.
Khashoggi, a U.S.-based Washington Post columnist and outspoken critic of the Saudi government, was killed after entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.
For weeks, Saudi leaders insisted that Khashoggi had left the consulate and denied having knowledge of his disappearance.
But as international scrutiny continued to increase, Saudi officials said last week that the journalist was killed following an altercation inside the consulate.