"It could be something in the building went badly awry."

- Republicans hit MBS -

Amid Trump's apparent equivocations, several leading Republicans demanded a tougher stance.

Asked if he thought Prince Mohammed was behind the killing, Republican Senator Bob Corker told CNN: "Yes, I think he did it. Let's finish this investigation."

Corker, who chairs the Foreign Relations Committee, added that if the prince is implicated, "There should be a collective response."

"I think you're going to see the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany working collectively with others if he did this to respond in an appropriate way."

Perhaps the strongest words came from Lindsey Graham, a strong Trump ally in the Senate who called for Prince Mohammed to "be removed."

"I would like to punish those involved. It's impossible to believe the crown prince wasn't involved. I don't mind military sales but I object to business with the current leadership," he said.

Trump has cited a planned $110 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia as a reason for a cautious approach, although many components of that package had been set in motion months or years before he took office.

"This behavior is outside the norm to the point that the people involved need to be removed in my view. Saudi Arabia is a country and MBS is a person. I'm willing to separate the two," Graham continued, accusing the prince of acting in a "barbaric fashion."

Democrats have repeatedly lashed out at Trump's response as weak and indecisive, and they said his latest reaction fell short as well.

Barring an unlikely "confession" from Prince Mohammed, Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff said Sunday, "the president is going to accept the crown prince's denials like he's accepted Putin's denials and Kim Jong Un's denials."

"We have to see if financial motives are influencing the president," he said on ABC.

Democratic Senator Dick Durbin called in a statement for the expulsion of the Saudi ambassador from the United States -- Prince Khalid bin Salman, the crown prince's younger brother -- pending completion of a "third-party investigation into the kidnap and murder of Jamal Khashoggi."

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