Trump Bragged He Protected MBS after Khashoggi’s Brutal Murder, According To Woodward’s New Book

That's according to the veteran reporter Bob Woodward's upcoming book, "Rage," set to be released next Tuesday. Insider obtained a copy of the book.

Woodward conducted 18 wide-ranging interviews with the president for the book, as well as interviews with multiple senior White House officials and former administration officials. Still, Trump last month slammed the book as "a FAKE, as always, just as many of the others have been."

Woodward wrote that Trump called him on January 22 shortly after attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. During the conversation, Woodward pressed him about Khashoggi's gruesome murder.

Khashoggi, 59, a longtime Washington Post columnist known for his criticism of the Saudi kingdom, was assassinated and dismembered at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018, after going there to get paperwork for his upcoming marriage.

The CIA concluded a little over a month later that MBS had personally ordered Khashoggi's murder.

"The people at the Post are upset about the Khashoggi killing," Woodward told Trump on January 22, his book says. "That is one of the most gruesome things. You yourself have said."

As Woodward pressed Trump about MBS's role in ordering Khashoggi's killing, he said “I saved him,” I was able to get Congress to leave him alone. I was able to get them to stop,” the book says.

However, the White House did not offer a comment.

When a reporter pressed Trump on Thursday about what the president meant when he said he'd "saved" the Saudi leader, Trump replied: "You'll have to figure that out yourself."

During his January 22 conversation with Woodward, Trump said: "Well, I understand what you're saying, and I've gotten involved very much. I know everything about the whole situation."

Trump added that Saudi Arabia spent billions of dollars on US products. He also stressed MBS's claim that he's innocent, though US intelligence and other foreign intelligence agencies have concluded otherwise.