Mnuchin Bails On Saudi Arabia Finance Conference

Talking Points Memo reports:

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced Thursday that he will not attend an upcoming conference in Saudi Arabia amid the fallout from the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Mnuchin has been facing mounting pressure to pull out of the conference following the disappearance of Khashoggi, a U.S..-based Saudi journalist, after he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul earlier in October.

The Washington Post reports:



Mnuchin’s absence is seen as the Trump administration’s first public rebuke of the Saudis over the disappearance of Washington Post contributing columnist Jamal Khashoggi, who Turkish investigators believe was killed inside a diplomatic compound in Istanbul. Nearly a dozen executives from the technology, media and entertainment industries have backed out of the Future Investment Initiative conference, nicknamed “Davos in the Desert.”