President Trump on Tuesday said Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman “knew nothing” about the 2018 murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey — noting that “things happen.”

“A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about … but [MBS] knew nothing about it, and we can leave it at that. You don’t have to embarrass [this gentleman] by asking that question,” Trump told a reporter who asked about the allegation.

The president, speaking from the Oval Office, further said Khashoggi was “extremely controversial.”