US President
Donald Trump said he found Saudi Arabia's explanation about Khashoggi's credible.
"It's early, we haven't finished our review or investigation, but … I think it's a very important first step," he said.
Trump said sanctions against Saudi Arabia "could be" something he would consider but "it's too early to say" how the US will respond for now.
He said he does not want to cancel a multibillion-dollar arms deal with the Saudis in response to the admission of guilt.
"I would prefer, if there is going to be some form of sanction or what we may determine to do, if anything ... that we don't use as retribution cancelling $110bn worth of work, which means 600,000 jobs," he said.