Mnuchin to attend top Saudi event, media exit over missing journalist

October 13, 2018

By Saeed Azhar, Lawrence White and Dmitry Zhdannikov

DUBAI/LONDON (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Wall Street bankers will show up at an elite Saudi investment conference this month despite a growing exodus of top media companies and business leaders after the disappearance of a Saudi journalist.

Mnuchin’s plan to attend the high-profile Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh follows U.S. President Donald Trump’s comments that he saw no reason to block Saudi Arabian investments in the United States despite concern over the welfare of Jamal Khashoggi.

“I am planning on going at this point. If more information comes out and changes, we can look at that, but I am planning on going,” Mnuchin said in an interview with CNBC on Friday.