Behind the scenes: Trump has privately called the assassination “really bad,” but immediately adds that other countries America deals with, including China, do “a lot of bad things,” according to sources with direct knowledge. Trump has also privately told associates he thinks it’s ridiculous that people are making so much of the Saudi murder of one man, given the brutal practices of countries like China.

President Xi Jinping has detained more than one million Uighurs in internment camps because of their religion. Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have spoken out against these camps, but Trump has shied away from publicly condemning this and other Chinese human rights atrocities.

Trump has also wondered aloud to aides why America should take a side in the Khashoggi fight, as the journalist was not a U.S. citizen and the murder didn’t happen here.