There was a striking moment when Donald Trump told a reporter in the Oval Office not to"embarrass" Mohammed bin Salman by asking about the killing of a journalist in 2018 (see 17.48 post).

Jamal Khashoggi had close ties to the Saudi royal family and also served as an adviser to the government.

But the 59-year-old went into self-imposed exile in the US in 2017 after falling out of favour.

From that point, he wrote a monthly column in the Washington Post in which he hit out at the policies of bin Salman.

Khashoggi said he feared being arrested in an apparent crackdown on dissent in his first column in September 2017.

Today marks the crown prince's first visit to the US since the killing of Khashoggi at the country's consulate in Istanbul.

He first visited the consulate on 28 September 2018 to get hold of a document confirming that he was divorced, so that he could marry his Turkish fiance.

Khashoggi arranged to come back on 2 October after being told he would have to pick up the document another time.

He was last seen entering the building on CCTV at 13.14 local time, but never reappeared.

US intelligence concluded that the crown prince approved the capture or killing of Khashoggi, a prominent critic.

Bin Salman has denied this but acknowledged responsibility as de-facto ruler.