“The United States is determined to hold all of those accountable who are responsible for that murder,” Pence said on the sidelines of an APEC summit in Papua New Guinea. Pence described the Saudi journalist’s killing as an “atrocity” and an “affront to a free and independent press,” but declined to comment on classified information. The vice president’s comments come after reports that the CIA believed the powerful bin Salman was involved in the plot to murder the journalist. If confirmed, the US assessment would directly contradict the conclusions of a Saudi prosecutor a day earlier, which exonerated the prince of involvement in the brutal murder.