Our live coverage of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s case has ended. Scroll through the posts below to read about the case or visit CNN World.
Twenty-one Saudi citizens suspected to be involved in Jamal Khashoggi’s death “will have their visas revoked or be ineligible for a visa to enter the United States,” State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert announced Tuesday afternoon.
Another State Department spokesperson told CNN that the Department had the authority “to revoke visas based on information that comes to light at any time indicating that a visa holder may be inadmissible to the United States or otherwise ineligible for a visa,” adding that US law prohibited discussing individual visa cases.
Speaking at the State Department Tuesday afternoon about the death of Jamal Khashoggi, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the US has identified “at least some of the individuals responsible including those in the intelligence services, the royal court, the foreign ministry and other Saudi ministries.”
On top of revoking visas, Pompeo said the US is also “taking appropriate actions,” including potential sanctions. “These penalties will not be the last word on this matter from the United States,” he said.
President Trump has been reluctant to criticize Saudi Arabia, insisting several times in the past week that people should give Saudi Arabia the benefit of the doubt. Pompeo, too, stressed the US’ “strong partnership” and “shared strategic interests” with Saudi Arabia.
However, Pompeo took a harder line than previous White House statements.
“We are making very clear that the United States does not tolerate this kind of ruthless action to silence Mr. Khashoggi … Neither the President nor I am happy with this situation,” he said.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the US will revoke visas and issue “visa lookouts” for those identified as responsible for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.
Pompeo also said the Treasury Department is reviewing any applicability of sanctions for those responsible.
President Trump said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s speech on Jamal Khashoggi’s case was “certainly not complimentary about what happened.”
“I want to see the facts first. Saudi Arabia has been a great ally,” he said Tuesday in the Oval Office.
Trump also defended his decision to stand by Saudi Arabia because of the economic interests they have in the US. “They are doing hundreds of billions of dollars in investments … and thousands and thousands of jobs. “
He warned that the US would only be hurting itself if he decided to pull out of arms deals with the kingdom, and added that “I will tell you that Russia and China would love to have that military order.. Russia would pick that up very quickly.”
Trump added “that is no excuse” for Khashoggi’s death.
“But if what happened happened, and if the facts check out, then it’s something that’s very bad,” he said.
“Somebody really messed up and they had the worst cover-up ever,” Trump added.
Turkish and Saudi officials have found two suitcases and various other materials Tuesday in the abandoned Saudi consulate car at the Istanbul Sultangazi district parking lot, according to Turkey’s state news agency Anadolu.
CNN witnessed the Turkish police and forensic team’s arrival at the parking lot. A senior Turkish police officer at the scene told CNN that a senior Saudi diplomat and a representative from the Turkish foreign ministry were also present at this examination.
Why this matters: Istanbul’s Sultangazi District Chief Police Officer Mehmet Karaca confirmed to CNN Monday that the car they are examining is part of the Jamal Khashoggi case.
Forensic teams catalogued the contents from the vehicle, which was found Monday. They will take the relevant material found inside the car for further analysis, according to photos and reports in Turkish media.
CNN witnessed the abandoned Saudi consulate car being driven out from the parking lot.
A Turkish government official told CNN that Turkish law enforcement handed the diplomatic vehicle to the Saudis, and it was the Saudis who drove the car outside of the parking lot.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the US-based children of Jamal Khashoggi on Tuesday to offer his condolences and update them on the investigation into the murder, a source confirmed to CNN.
Turkey’s state-run Anadolu reported earlier: “President Erdogan called Khashoggi’s family to offer his condolences.”
Another report stated the call was with Khashoggi’s son Abdullah and other family members. The report added, “President Erdogan said he was deeply sad about Khashoggi’s murder. He will do everything to uncover the murder.”
US Vice President Mike Pence said CIA Director Gina Haspel is on the ground in Turkey now “reviewing the evidence” in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.
“We are going to follow the facts,” Pence added. On her return, Haspel will brief President Trump.
Pence said the US “will get to the bottom” of this matter and it “will not go without an American response.”
Reporters from the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Financial Times and Reuters are here at the “Davos in the Desert.” But it’s still a small turnout compared to last year’s conference when there was a throng of international media broadcasting live.
This time round, in the wake of the Khashoggi scandal which has cast a long shadow over the conference, only Sky News Arabia and Al Arabiya have broadcasting stands.
It seems like the organizers are scrambling to find moderators for their panels, as international media partners pulled out. Some guests are moderating up to three panels.
On the conference app, the agenda keeps changing and speakers are added last minute.
The halls are a bit quieter than last year, but people we speak to say there is still a “good turnout.”
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman made a flying visit to his country’s big investment conference, widely known as “Davos in the desert,” arriving with the King of Jordan but leaving after just 15 minutes.
The Crown Prince, known widely by his initials MBS, listened to a session on Formula E motor racing, which is coming to Saudi Arabia.
Last year the Prince stayed much longer, speaking on a panel about Saudi Arabia’s project for megacity “Neom.”
Saudi royals have expressed their condolences to Khashoggi’s eldest son and another relative at the palace in Riyadh, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Tuesday.
The Saudi King, along with the Crown Prince and the Minister of Defense, received Sahl bin Ahmad Khashoggi and Salah bin Jamal Khashoggi at the Al Yamama Palace, the agency said.
CNN has reported that Salah Khashoggi was the Washington Post journalist’s eldest son. Sahl bin Ahmad has been identified by SPA as another relative of Jamal Khashoggi.
SPA reported that the King and the Crown Prince “expressed their sincere condolences to the family of Jamal Khashoggi – may God have mercy on him.”
The report added that Sahl and Salah Khashoggi expressed their sincere gratitude to the King and the Crown Prince for their condolences.
Saudi Arabia’s Council of Ministers said on state TV Tuesday that the Kingdom had “indicated” its “keenness to hold accountable those who failed in their duties” in the Khashoggi case.
The Khashoggi backlash hasn’t stopped Saudi Arabia doing business at “Davos in the desert.”
Oil company Saudi Aramco said it signed 15 Memoranda of Understanding worth more than $34 billion with companies from France, China, the United States, Japan, the UAE, the United Kingdom, South Korea and India.
They cover projects in oil drilling and refining, gas stations and chemicals. Among the companies involved are Total, Halliburton, Schlumberger, Baker Hughes, Hyundai Heavy Industries and Sumitomo.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s big investment conference – dubbed “Davos in the desert” – opened on Tuesday under the shadow of journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s death.
Dozens of top executives and government officials have stayed away from the conference, as questions mounted over the Saudi government’s role in the killing of Khashoggi.
But Chief Executive of Saudi Aramco, Amin Nasser, told CNN: “Everybody here feels sorry for the death of Jamal Khashoggi.”
“We feel sorry for his family and what happened, but at the end of day you know, we need to move beyond that… The kingdom recognized what happened, and is taking steps to make sure it will be addressed through the legal system that exists within the country in dealing with the people that committed this crime,” he added.
In his speech on Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered the first on-the-record timeline of events surrounding the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. While it was the first time that a member of the Turkish government has spoken publicly in detail about the case, Erdogan added only a few new details to those that have already emerged from private briefings by Turkish officials.
His speech was significant as much for what he didn’t say as for what he did.
Here’s what Erdogan said:
What he didn’t say:
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he wants the 18 Saudi suspects held in Saudi in connection with the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi to be tried in Istanbul.
Erdogan added that the Vienna Convention offering diplomatic immunity was a “matter of debate” in this particular case.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made no mention of an audio tape of Khashoggi’s suspected torture and killing, the contents of which have been reportedly leaked.
While the Turkish President listed many of the details already reported in the case, he made no reference to the tape and held back from pointing the finger directly at Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saudi consulate cameras were removed before Khashoggi’s arrival. “We have very strong leads that this was not accidental, but that it was planned,” he said.
Saudi Arabia only gave permission for Turkish security to search its consulate in Istanbul after media attention, he said.
Erdogan added that Saudi authorities gave Turkey a list of 18 suspects held in Saudi Arabia as part of the Kingdom’s probe into the killing of Khashoggi. The list included the 15 Saudi men identified by Turkish authorities, in addition to three more, he said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan rejects Saudi Arabia’s explanation that the killing of Khashoggi was an accidental result of a discussion that went awry, saying it was a pre-planned and “ferocious” murder.
“Turkey is becoming the joint conscience of the international community,” he added.
“To try and hide such a ferocious murder is against the conscience of humanity,” Erdogan told the Turkish Parliament.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said a group of 15 people arrived separately in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul before Khashoggi entered at 1.08 p.m.
His fiancé alerted the police fearing something had happened to him. Turkish police immediately started an investigation and looked through CCTV footage.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has begun his speech, offering his “sincere apologies” to Jamal Khashoggi’s family, fiancee and the people of Saudi Arabia.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is set to make a highly anticipated announcement on the Khashoggi case shortly.
“Nothing about this event will remain hidden,” Erdogan’s spokesman told reporters Monday.
The speech will fall within the first hours of an investment conference in Riyadh, dubbed Davos in the Desert, that has been boycotted by most of its high-profile participants in the wake of Khashoggi’s death.
Jean-Bernard Lévy, CEO of French utility EDF, will no longer attend Saudi investment conference, per a statement from the company.
Lévy is just the latest major business or media figure to pull out of “Davos in the desert” since the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Tuesday that no evidence has been shared with any country regarding the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi case, according to Turkish state-run Anadolu News.
“There may be meetings between intelligence services,” Çavuşoğlu said. “Turkey (is) ready to cooperate in a possible probe into Khashoggi case at UN, international courts.”
The Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Tuesday that because of strong international pressure, the Saudi side had to eventually acknowledge that the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi took place.
He told Turkish national TV that Ankara would cooperate in any international investigation.
“We will continue this inquiry till we find out a satisfactory answer,” he said. “This is a murder enquiry and it needs to be clarified.”
Saudi Arabia’s Future Investment Initiative conference has officially kicked off in Riyadh.
High profile CEOs, guests and media partners, including CNN, have withdrawn from the conference following the news of the disappearance and then death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan and Kirill Dmitriev, the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, headline the conference’s first two panels.
Indonesia is “highly expecting” a “transparent and elaborate investigation” into the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to its Foreign Minister.
Retno Marsudi hosted her Saudi Arabian counterpart, Adel al-Jubeir, for bilateral talks in Jakarta on Tuesday.
During a press conference, Marsudi said: “This meeting happened amid a situation that has now become our concern, which is: the killing of Jamal Khashoggi”.
She added: “Two days ago I talked to Minister al-Jubeir and highlighted that we are determined to find out the facts”.
The Saudi Foreign Minister also made a statement, saying Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is committed to seeing “to it that the investigation is thorough and complete and that the truth is revealed, and that those responsible will be held to account. And that procedures and mechanisms are put in place to ensure that something like this can never happen again.”
Saudi Arabia’s big investment conference starts Tuesday under the shadow of Jamal Khashoggi’s death.
Dozens of top business leaders from around the world have pulled out of the Future Investment Initiative as questions have mounted over the Saudi government’s role in the killing of Khashoggi, a dissident journalist who disappeared after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul earlier this month.
The exodus of executives — including the CEOs of JPMorgan Chase, Uber and Siemens — has taken the shine off the showcase event hosted by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has been trying to modernize the country’s oil-dependent economy.
Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul pushed back on the Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir who criticized him for suggesting Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was responsible for Jamal Khashoggi’s death.
The director of the CIA, Gina Haspel is travelling to Turkey to address the investigation into the death of Jamal Khashoggi, according to a source.
The CIA did not respond for comment.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is due to make an announcement regarding Khashoggi on Tuesday.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin met with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday amid an international outcry over dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s death.
A photograph of the meeting between Mnuchin and the Crown Prince was posted on Twitter by the Saudi foreign ministry.
Saudi officials said the meeting “stresses the importance of the Saudi-US strategic partnership, where it holds an important role in the future in line with the Kingdom’s #Vision2030,” according to its caption.
Mnuchin addressed the Khashoggi investigation with the Crown Prince, according to a verified tweet from Treasury spokesperson Tony Sayegh.
The Treasury Secretary also discussed combating terrorist financing, implementing Iran sanctions, and Saudi economic issues, Sayegh said.
President Trump’s call with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was on Sunday, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said.
earlier today, Trump mentioned speaking to the crown prince while he answered reporters’ questions on the White House lawn. (You can watch that moment in the video in the post right below this one.)
President Trump, taking reporters’ questions on the White House lawn, said he’s spoken to Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on the Jamal Khashoggi case.
The President said US officials are in both both Saudi Arabia and Turkey, where Khashoggi was killed, and they’ll soon return to the US.
“We have people over in Saudi Arabia now. We have top intelligence people in Turkey. We’re going to see what we have. I’ll know a lot tomorrow,” he said. “They’ll be coming back either tonight or tomorrow morning. But we have people in Saudi Arabia and people in Turkey.”
Watch more:
UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said Saudi Arabia’s account that Jamal Khashoggi died in a fight “do not amount to a credible explanation.”
“There remains an urgent need to establish exactly what happened on the 2nd of October and thereafter,” Hunt told the House of Commons.
“This matters because only after a full investigation will it be possible to apportion responsibility and ensure that any crimes are punished following proper due process.”
The UK government is under pressure from some British lawmakers to halt its arms sales to Saudi Arabia following Khashoggi’s death.
Hunt said that despite the UK’s “important strategic partnership” between the UK and Saudi Arabia, he is willing to act once the final details are known.
“If the appalling stories we are reading turn out to be true, they are fundamentally incompatible with our values. We will act accordingly,” he said. “Actions Britain and our allies take will depend on two things. Firstly, the credibility of the explanation given by Saudi Arabia, and secondly on our confidence that such an appalling episode cannot and will not be repeated.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will make an announcement on the murder case of Jamal Khashoggi on Tuesday.
Speaking in Ankara, Erdogan’s spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin said the investigation into Khashoggi’s disappearance and murder is continuing and that the process of collecting all the evidence, information and documents has great importance.
Kalin added: “And as laws indicated, the investigation will continue until the end. Illumination of the event with all of the direction is our goal, our duty and our responsibility. Getting away from this will never be the case.”
British Prime Minister Theresa May said “we must get to the truth” of what happened to Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Turkey.
Speaking in the House of Commons Monday afternoon, May said: “I am sure the whole House will join me in condemning the killing of Jamal Khashoggi in the strongest possible terms. We must get to the truth of what happened.”
She said the British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt will make a statement later on Monday.
The Trump administration is approaching Saudi Arabia’s explanation for Jamal Khashoggi’s death with “our eyes wide open,” White House senior adviser Jared Kushner said on Monday.
“I think the President is focused on what’s good for America,” Kushner told Van Jones at the Citizen by CNN festival. “What are our strategic interests? Where do we share interests with other countries? Let’s work toward those.
“The Middle East is a rough place. It’s been a rough place for a very long time,” he said. “We have to be able to pursue our strategic objectives. But we also have to deal with what is obviously a terrible situation.”
Kushner said it was too early to say whether Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, with whom he’s cultivated a close relationship, had taken his advice to remain transparent in the investigation into Khashoggi’s death.
“The world is watching,” he said. “This is a very very serious accusation. A very serious situation. To be sure you’re transparent and to take this very seriously.”
“We’ll see” if he takes that advice, Kushner said.
Still, the President’s son-in-law offered praise for reforms enacted in the kingdom since Prince Mohammed assumed power, saying they helped advance American interests.
“A lot of the reforms they’ve been making there to help us track down the terror financing and also to push back against the people who are perverting the religion, have been very historic over the last year,” he said. “So we’re hopeful we can keep pushing forward with a lot of the initiatives that further American interests and that push back Iran’s aggression, so we’re going to stay focused on that.”
Turkish police have found an abandoned Saudi consulate car in a private Istanbul parking lot on Monday, according to Turkey’s state news channel Turkish Radio and Television, TRT Haber.
The channel reported that its diplomatic plate belongs to the Saudi consulate and matched the vehicle to one seen outside the building when Khashoggi disappeared.
A Turkish driver who works at the Saudi consulate parked the car a couple of days after Khashoggi disappeared and Turkish police officers are investigating the car, TRT Haber also reported.
CNN teams outside the parking lot saw a heavy police presence and the parking lot has been cordoned off.
Turkey’s ruling party spokesman Omer Celik described the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi as “a violently planned, very complicated murder, which was being covered up,” according to Turkey’s state news agency Anadolu.
Turkish and Saudi authorities have been investigating the death of Khashoggi, who disappeared after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2.
Saudi Arabia has denied targeting journalist Jamal Khashoggi, saying the allegations it ordered his killing are “false, untrue claims,” in a statement on Monday from the Saudi Minister of Media.
“Any claims about the Kingdom’s targeting of its citizen, Jamal Khashoggi, God have mercy on his soul, are false, untrue claims,” Awwad Al-Alawwad posted on his official Twitter account on Monday.
Turkish authorities are continuing to get witness statements from Saudi consulate staff on Monday as part of the ongoing investigation into the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to a CNN team inside the courthouse in Istanbul.
Five Turkish employees have already arrived at the Istanbul Palace of Justice in Caglayan and two of them left the courthouse, a CNN team was told. CNN can independently verify three of them were questioned and left the building at around noon (5:00 a.m. ET).
About 20 Saudi consulate employees, from both Saudi and Turkish nationalities, are expected to arrive at the Istanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office to testify as “witnesses,” security personnel told CNN.
One member of the 15-man team suspected in the death of Jamal Khashoggi dressed up in his clothes and was seen on surveillance cameras around Istanbul on the day the journalist was killed, a senior Turkish official has told CNN.
CNN has obtained exclusive law enforcement surveillance footage from the Turkish government’s probe which appears to show the man leaving the consulate by the back door, wearing Khashoggi’s clothes, a fake beard, and glasses.
The man in the video has been identified as Mustafa al-Madani by the senior Turkish official, who added that Madani was brought to Istanbul to be used as a decoy for the journalist.
The same man was seen in Khashoggi’s clothing, according to the Turkish case, at the city’s world-famous Blue Mosque just hours after the journalist was last seen alive entering the consulate on October 2.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has spoken to Saleh Khashoggi, the eldest son of slain Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, by phone to express his condolences to him, a CNN source has confirmed.
Salah Khashoggi “expressed his sincere thanks” to the Crown Prince for his condolences, according to Saudi state-run SPA news agency.
Separately, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud also called Salah Khashoggi.
Saudi Arabia’s account of the death of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi is not credible, the UK’s Brexit Minister Dominic Raab said on Sunday.
“We support the Turkish investigation into it and the British government will want to see people held to account for that death,” Raab said in an interview with the BBC.
Raab added that Britain isn’t going to “terminate” its relationship with Saudi Arabia, because it would put a “huge number of British jobs” that depend on the relationship at risk and also because to “exert influence over your partners you need to be able to talk to them.”
Shares in Saudi Arabia were down nearly 2% on Sunday after the Saudi government admitted on Friday to the death of missing Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
Stocks have dropped almost 6% on the main stock market index in Riyadh since Khashoggi went missing on October 2 after walking into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
A Turkish-Arab journalists’ group on Saturday demanded the punishment of all those who were involved the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2.
“This matter is not yet over. It’s just starting. Here today we are calling the whole world to task. We want justice for Jamal,” said Turan Kislakci, head of the Turk-Arab Media Association, of which Khashoggi was a member.
“We want Jamal’s murderers to be punished. However, we want punishment not only for the 18 men; but also those who gave the orders,” Kislacki told reporters outside the consulate Saturday.
A senior official in Turkey’s ruling political party has questioned the credibility of Saudi Arabia’s explanation for the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at a diplomatic building in Istanbul, saying the Turkish government would not permit a cover-up.
Justice and Development Party spokesperson Omer Celik indicated that Turkey was not satisfied with the Saudi contention that Khashoggi died in a brawl rather than as the result of a premeditated killing, as Turkish officials privately suspect.
“We are not preemptively blaming anyone but we will also not allow a cover-up,” Celik said on Saturday, in the first official Turkish reaction to Saudi Arabia’s midnight statement claiming Khashoggi’s death was accidental.
“It is a matter of honor for us that this is uncovered. We will shed light on this using all means we have. That is the will of our president,” Celik said.
The UK Foreign Office is “considering the Saudi report” on the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and its next steps.
“We send our condolences to Jamal Khashoggi’s family after this confirmation of his death. We are considering the Saudi report and our next steps. As the Foreign Secretary has said, this was a terrible act and those responsible must be held to account,” the spokeswoman said in a statement.
Meanwhile, UK Opposition Leader Jeremy Corbyn has called on the British Government to suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia in light of Khashoggi’s death.
On Friday, UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt described the UK’s ties with the Saudi Kingdom as “strategic” in an interview with BBC Radio 4.
“Our relationship with Saudi is a strategic relationship as well. Our response will be considered because we have to recognize in that strategic relationship that they share intelligence with us that helps us keep people safe in the streets of Britain,” Hunt said.
“We have a very strict Arms Sale Control Mechanism and let’s be clear – we don’t just sell arms to anywhere that we can make money,” Hunt added.
A source with close connections to the Royal Palace has told CNN’s Clarissa Ward that, in the Saudis’ determination, the cause of death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi was a chokehold or strangulation.
No supporting evidence has been produced to show what caused the journalist’s death. Turkish officials privately say he was dismembered.
Earlier on Friday, Saudi Arabia admitted the Washington Post columnist died during a physical altercation with a team from Riyadh in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2. The official explanation is that he died after a fist fight.
The Saudi prosecutor in Riyadh has opened an investigation into Khashoggi’s death, officials announced.
There won’t be any official Australian representation at Riyadh’s Future Investment Initiative aka “Davos in the desert” in light of Saudi Arabia admitting the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to a press release Saturday from Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Marise Payne.
The statement says that “Australia deplores the killing of prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi” and extends “our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones,” calling him a “strong voice for freedom of expression.”
Australia joins a list of several major nations and investors pulling out the of the conference including the US, France, UK and the Netherlands.
US President Donald Trump said Friday that he believes Saudi Arabia’s explanation for the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and called the arrest of 18 Saudis “a good first step.”
After 18 days in which Saudi Arabia adamantly denied that any harm had come to Jamal Khashoggi at its consulate in Istanbul, it committed a startling about-face.
Not only did Riyadh admit that Khashoggi came to a violent end, it pinned the blame on some of the closest aides to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler.
Republican lawmaker Corey Stewart joins CNN’s Anderson Cooper to discuss the ongoing blowback from the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi:
Two weeks after journalist Jamal Khashoggi disappeared after entering the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, the Kingdom announced he died and said it would bring the people responsible to justice.
Saudi Arabia’s statement, read aloud on Saudi State television, said investigators worked with Turkish officials to determine what happened. There was a deadly altercation and now 18 Saudi nationals have been detained.
The case of the disappearance of the citizen Jamal bin Ahmed Khashoggi drew the attention of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at the highest levels, and due to the circumstances surrounding his disappearance, the Kingdom took the necessary procedures to clarify the truth and began by dispatching a security team to Turkey on 6 October 2018 to investigate and cooperate with counterparts in Turkey.
In addition to Major General Ahmed al-Asiri being relieved of his duties, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) issued a statement by Royal Court Order that Saudi King Salman bin Abdel Aziz Al-Saud relieved Saud al-Qahtani from his duties as Royal Court Consultant.
On Twitter, Saud thanked King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for their trust.
“I offer my ardent thanks and acknowledgement to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and His Highness the Crown Prince for the great trust they put in me and for giving me this great opportunity to be honored with serving my country in the last few years,” he wrote on Twitter. “I will remain a faithful servant to my country for all of time. Our country will remain valuable and proud, God willing.”
A separate statement from SPA included the names of other officers relieved of their duties by Saudi King Salman also by Royal Court Order. The statement didn’t mention the Jamal Khashoggi investigation but was released among a series of announcements relating to the investigation by the Saudi Press Agency.
The names in the statement are:
President Trump said he believes the Saudi explanation of journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s death is credible.
“I do. I do,” Trump said when asked about his confidence in the explanation, which claims Khashoggi died in a fist fight at the country’s consulate in Istanbul.
“Again, it’s early. We haven’t finished our review, our investigation. But I think it’s a very important first step,” he added.
President Trump said talks with Saudi officials would continue, including raising some questions about their account of events that led to the death of Jamal Khashoggi.
“We’ll be talking to them,” Trump said. “We may have some questions. We do have some questions.”
He said he would work with Congress to develop a response.
“I would prefer if there is going to be some form of sanctions – this was a lot of people they’re talking about. … I would prefer we don’t use as retribution canceled $110 billion worth of work,” he said to reporters after a roundtable at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona.
Trump said he would withhold a fuller comment until he speaks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
President Trump offered a positive initial reaction to news that Saudi Arabia identified who they say were responsible for the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
“I just saw it,” Trump said after a roundtable at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona. “I think it’s a good first step. It’s a big step. It’s a lot of people involved.”
“It’s early,” he said later. “We haven’t finished our review.”
Trump continued: “I think it’s a very important first step and it happened sooner than people thought it would happen.”
The announcement: Saudi Arabia has confirmed Khashoggi’s death, claiming he died in a fist fight at the country’s consulate in Istanbul.
An announcement carried on Saudi state TV said discussions between Khashoggi and officials at the consulate quickly turned violent, and ended in his death. Five high-ranking officials have been removed from their posts, including the deputy head of the Saudi intelligence service, and 18 Saudis have been detained, state TV said.
The statement was the first official confirmation of Khashoggi’s death in Turkey 18 days ago, and the first acknowledgment by Saudi Arabia of its role in it.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is “deeply troubled” by the death of missing Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
Dujarric released this statement about Khashoggi’s death:
“The Secretary-General is deeply troubled by the confirmation of the death of Jamal Khashoggi. He extends his condolences to Mr. Khashoggi’s family and friends. The Secretary-General stresses the need for a prompt, thorough and transparent investigation into the circumstances of Mr. Khashoggi’s death and full accountability for those responsible.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was briefed by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman about the Saudi announcement regarding the death of Jamal Khashoggi, according to a senior administration official.
Pompeo then spoke with President Trump and White House national security adviser John Bolton, the source said.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders issued a statement Friday on Saudi Arabia’s announcement about the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
“We are saddened to hear confirmation of Mr. Khashoggi’s death, and we offer our deepest condolences to his family, fiancée, and friends,” the White House said.
Read the White House statement:
“The United States acknowledges the announcement from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that its investigation into the fate of Jamal Khashoggi is progressing and that it has taken action against the suspects it has identified thus far. We will continue to closely follow the international investigations into this tragic incident and advocate for justice that is timely, transparent, and in accordance with all due process. We are saddened to hear confirmation of Mr. Khashoggi’s death, and we offer our deepest condolences to his family, fiancée, and friends.”
Saudi Arabia expressed “deep regret” over the death of Jamal Khashoggi in an announcement on Saudi State TV.
“The kingdom of Saudi Arabia expresses deep regret at the painful developments that have taken place in this case and affirms the commitment of the authorities in the kingdom to bring the facts to the attention of the public and to hold accountable all those involved. Saudi Arabia will seek justice by referring those responsible to the competent courts in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” it said in the announcement.
Saudi Arabia has confirmed the death of missing Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in an announcement on Saudi State TV.
The Saudis have set up a commission, led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, that will restructure the Saudi general intelligence directorate, the Saudi Press Agency reported. That report is scheduled to be released in one month. The commission will consist of national security officials, the foreign ministry and the interior ministry.
Discussions between Khashoggi and those who met him during arrival at the consulate in Istanbul led to a quarrel and physical altercation that led to his death, the state TV report said.
A total of 18 Saudi nationals have now been detained for investigation, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
A royal order has also been issued to release Maj. Gen. Ahmed al-Asir from his duty as the deputy of the intelligence services, according to the announcement.
A royal order has been issued to release Maj. Gen. Ahmed al-Asir from his duty as the deputy of the intelligence services, according to an announcement on Saudi State TV.
Asiri was believed to be the chief architect of the war with Yemen. He was previously the Saudi-led coalition spokesman in the kingdom’s war against Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
The two-star general’s position as spokesman made him a household name and he was soon part of the Crown Prince’s inner circle.
According to several sources, he chose the team involved in Khashoggi’s disappearance.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Saudi Arabia’s King Salman spoke Friday evening about the “continuation of full cooperation” in the investigation into the disappearance of Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, according to the state-run Anadolu news agency.
The leaders also “exchanged information about the progress of the ongoing investigations in both countries,” according to Anadolu.
Anadolu did not provide any other details.
President Trump said he would have answers “pretty quickly” in the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
“We’re going to have some answers pretty quickly,” he said in Arizona, saying he would soon learn “who knew what, when and where.”
He insisted he was not waiting too long to enact sanctions or punishment on Saudi Arabia.
“I think waiting two days and making sure everything’s right is not so bad,” he said. “We’ve done a lot of work on this.”
The Trump White House may have too much at stake to make Saudi Arabia pay a proportionate price for the apparent murder of Jamal Khashoggi.
For multiple geopolitical and domestic political reasons, the administration has far more to gain from helping engineer a face-saving exit for itself and its ally from its biggest foreign policy crisis in nearly two years in office than by making an example of the Saudis in a belated stand for human rights.
Here’s a few reasons why:
Members of the Saudi Consulate staff are giving their statements in the Jamal Khashoggi case to Turkey’s Public Prosecutor’s Office in Istanbul, according to Turkish state broadcaster TRT.
The 15 consulate workers — including a consulate driver and the phone operator — are giving their statements as witnesses, according to TRT. All 15 are Turkish nationals, according to state news outlet Anadolu.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has denied a report that Turkey had provided US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (or any other US official) with an audio recording relating to the alleged murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.
What is this recording? Previously, a source familiar with the ongoing investigation told CNN that Turkish authorities have audio and visual evidence that showed Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi consulate. The evidence, which was described to the source by a Western intelligence agency, showed there had been an assault and a struggle inside the consulate, along with the moment Khashoggi was killed, the source said.
What Pompeo is saying: Earlier Friday, the Secretary of State told reporters, “I’ve heard no tape, I’ve seen no transcript.”
Turkey will share the results of the probe into the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi with the world, the country’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Friday.
Speaking to reporters, Cavusoglu said the Istanbul Public Prosecutor’s office is waiting on lab results after searching the Saudi consulate, residence and several vehicles.
While Cavusolgu emphasized that the findings will be made publicly available, he made it clear they will not do so until all the facts have been gathered.
“We will share the findings with the entire world. There is no question we are going to share this info or that info to some countries, but right now Turkey is managing this case, which the world is recognizing.”
UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said Friday allegations around the disappearance and apparent killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi are “totally inconsistent” with Britain’s values and beliefs, and would be “unacceptable for the United Kingdom.”
“What is alleged to have happened is totally inconsistent with our values and what we believe in, and not just the brutality of it – if it happened – but also the fact that he was a journalist,” Hunt said in an interview with BBC Radio 4 on Friday.
While the foreign minister asserted that the British government is “extremely concerned,” its response to Saudi Arabia would have to be “considered” in respect of the strategic relationship between both states.
“Our relationship with Saudi is a strategic relationship as well. Our response will be considered because we have to recognize in that strategic relationship that they share intelligence with us that helps us keep people safe in the streets of Britain,” Hunt said.
“We have a very strict Arms Sale Control Mechanism and let’s be clear – we don’t just sell arms to anywhere that we can make money,” Hunt added.
Twitter has suspended accounts that appeared to be setting out to smear missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi, but has no evidence that the accounts were “pro-Saudi” or Saudi government-backed.
Twitter has been aware of and suspending the accounts for some time, a person familiar with the situation told CNN Friday. The accounts were behaving like typical spam accounts, the source said.
Twitter challenges 10 million accounts a week, the source added.
The Trump White House may have too much at stake to make Saudi Arabia pay a proportionate price for the apparent murder of Jamal Khashoggi.
If Riyadh finds a scapegoat and absolves senior members of the royal family over the disappearance of The Washington Post columnist in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul two weeks ago, Trump may accept it.
For multiple geopolitical and domestic political reasons, the administration has far more to gain from helping engineer a face-saving exit for itself and its ally from its biggest foreign policy crisis in nearly two years in office than by making an example of the Saudis in a belated stand for human rights.
The kingdom forms the foundation of President Donald Trump’s Middle East policy, and a decision to severely punish its rulers could spark an estrangement that would cripple his hopes of confronting Iran. It would also weaken Washington’s strategic position in the region and offer an opening to rival powers.
And back home, a chill with the Saudis would mean Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner would lose considerable political face after investing significant capital in wooing the royal court.
That’s why many observers are cynical about the White House’s insistence that it’s waiting for evidence from probes conducted by the Saudi and Turkish government before deciding its course of action.
When the truth about what happened to Khashoggi emerges — that he was likely killed by organs of the Saudi state possibly with the knowledge of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman it might turn out to be highly inconvenient for the White House.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo forcefully denied a report from ABC News that Turkish officials shared with him an audio recording and transcript of the alleged murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
“I’ve heard no tape, I’ve seen no transcript. And the network that reported that ought to pull down the headline that says I have,” Pompeo told the reporters traveling with him to Mexico.
“This is a very serious matter that we’re working diligently on, and so to put out headlines that are factually false does no one any good,” he said.
ABC News has not responded publicly to Pompeo’s comments, but did acknowledge a previous denial by State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert.
President Donald Trump praised Montana Republican Rep. Greg Gianforte for assaulting a reporter during his campaign last May, saying “any guy who can do a body slam … he’s my guy” and made a gesture mimicking a body slam.
At a Montana rally Thursday night, Trump admitted, “I shouldn’t say this,” but continued and said, “there’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”
The comment comes at the same time as the administration responds to the disappearance and apparent murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Khashoggi was last seen entering the Saudi consulate on October 2 and Turkish media reports that an audio recording suggests Khashoggi was tortured and killed soon after entering the building before being dismembered.
Trump said Thursday “it certainly looks” like Khashoggi is dead. But, Trump said he is “waiting for the results” of investigations being conducted by Saudi Arabia and Turkey, after which he pledged to make “a very strong statement.”
Gianforte pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault in June 2017 after he was convicted of “body slamming” Ben Jacobs, a reporter for The Guardian. A judge sentenced him to a 180-day deferred sentence, 40 hours of community service, 20 hours of anger management and a $300 fine along with a $85 court fee.
Trump said he found out about Gianforte assaulting a reporter when he was traveling in Rome, and initially was concerned it would hurt the Republican in the election.
“Then I said, well wait a minute, I know Montana pretty well, I think it might help him. And it did,” Trump said. The President’s comments were met with laughter and applause from the crowd in Montana.
Gianforte won the election the next day and apologized to Jacobs during his acceptance speech.
Clyde Bergstresser, who represented a Saudi prince that has gone missing, says the Jamal Khashoggi case reminds him of what purportedly happened to his former client.
After being kidnapped a first time in Geneva, Bergstresser’s client filed a criminal complaint against another member of the royal family.
He was then abducted again after refusing to drop the case.
“People are afraid,” said Bergstresser. “If you’re critical of the kingdom and you’re a Saudi citizen, even if you’re a grandson of the king, the first king, that you’re not protected.”
Bergstresser has not heard from his client again. He explained in detail what happened to CNN’s Chris Cuomo.
Watch more below:
Turkish officials suspected within hours of journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance that he had likely been killed, CNN has learned.
Intelligence officials raced to the Istanbul airport, where a private Saudi plane was waiting to take off, to try to find out whether Khashoggi had been abducted or whether his body was being taken out of the country.
Multiple sources, supported by the findings of a police report, told CNN how Turkish officials responded after Khashoggi’s fiancée Hatice Cengiz raised the alarm just before 5 p.m. on October 2 — three and a half hours after the journalist entered the consulate. At that time she was still waiting outside.
An adviser to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told CNN that he’d received a call from Cengiz and immediately called government officials, including Turkish intelligence officers. The adviser, Yasin Aktay, said that shortly before 6 p.m. he called the Saudi ambassador in Ankara, Waleed Al Khereiji, who told him he had not heard anything about Khashoggi. Aktay says the envoy seemed surprised by the call.
CNN’s efforts to reach the Saudi embassy in Ankara late Thursday were unsuccessful.
Sources told CNN that the Turkish intelligence agency MIT decided to review an audio-visual feed from inside the consulate — a feed whose existence Turkey has not publicly acknowledged. By then it was mid-evening. The feed provided evidence of what had transpired in the consulate that afternoon: an assault and a struggle that ultimately led to Khashoggi’s death.
Once the tape had been analyzed, police at the airport were alerted to search a private Saudi plane at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport. That plane — a chartered Gulfstream — was one of two jets that had flown from Riyadh earlier on October 2, carrying the Saudis allegedly involved in the operation.
A police account of events obtained by the pro-government Turkish newspaper Sabah and seen by CNN says the airport search was ordered because “there was a risk that Jamal Khashoggi had been abducted, according to the MIT personnel.” The police officer at the gate was instructed to hand over the passenger and crew information for the flight.
At the same time, it appears Turkish officers were unsure whether Khashoggi was dead or alive.
Seven Saudi passengers were already waiting at the airport, according to the police account, including one with a diplomatic passport. Their suitcases had already been x-rayed and the officer who carried out the scan told the MIT officers that it would have identified any body parts inside the luggage.
At about 9 p.m., intelligence officers dressed as airport workers examined the interior of the plane. They found nothing suspicious and the passengers were allowed to board. The flight left at about 11 p.m. local time.
Turkish intelligence then spent several days reviewing surveillance footage of vehicles that had brought the Saudi passengers to the airport — and of the passengers who had boarded the second Gulfstream. That plane had left at about 5 p.m. on October 2, before Turkish officials began their investigation.
It was only five days after Khashoggi’s disappearance that a Turkish official told CNN that the initial assessment of investigators was that he had been murdered inside the consulate and his body removed from the building.
Saudi Arabia is carrying out its own investigation into the affair but has so far maintained that Khashoggi left the consulate on the afternoon of October 2.
White House adviser Jared Kushner has been advising President Trump to proceed slowly and cautiously on the Saudi matter and not to be pressured into a quick decision by heated rhetoric coming from lawmakers, two sources said.
A source familiar with the matter said Kushner has told his father-in-law that a sudden withdrawal of support for Riyadh could have wide repercussions, including with Iran. And he reminded Trump that the US partners with less-than-savory regimes around the world, not just Saudi Arabia.
An official said Kushner was urging him to take a measured approach, which the President agreed with. The official disputed the New York Times’ characterization of Kushner asking President Trump to stand by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — but rather to give them time.
As CNN reported yesterday, Kushner has spoken Salman several times over the past week, including with national security adviser John Bolton last Tuesday.
President Trump was asked Thursday if he believes journalist Jamal Khashoggi is dead.
“It certainly looks that way to me, it’s very sad. It certainly looks that way,” he said.
Trump, who briefly took questions at Andrews Air Force Base before departing for Montana, said the administration is waiting on the results of “three investigations.”
“We’ll be making a statement, a very strong statement,” he said, saying that the administration will “get to the bottom” of what happened to Khashoggi.
Asked about consequences for those involved, Trump vowed it would be “very severe.”
“It’ll have to be very severe,” he said, “But we’ll see what happens.”
Fox Business Network, which had been the lone remaining media partner participating in this year’s Future Investment Initiative in Saudi Arabia, dropped out of the event on Thursday.
Here’s the network’s statement:
“FOX Business Network has canceled its sponsorship and participation in the Future Investment Initiative conference in Saudi Arabia. We continue to seek an interview with Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.”
For more than a week, Fox Business Network had said its participation in a high-profile summit in Saudi Arabia next week was “under review.”
All of the other international news outlets that had agreed to sponsor the event in Riyadh — CNN, The New York Times, Bloomberg, The Financial Times, CNBC and Nikkei — pulled out by last weekend, following the disappearance of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
The family of Jamal Khashoggi consider him to be a “missing person,” they said in a statement given to CNN on Thursday.
The family has “no legal or official proof” to believe otherwise, according to Motasem Khashoggi, cousin of Jamal and spokesperson for the Khashoggi family in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He added that Jamal was never a dissident.
Motasem Khashoggi said his family has been in “close contact with the Saudi government at the highest level.” The authorities have shared the “many steps that are being taken at the very top to answer many of the questions we, and the world have, regarding Jamal’s disappearance.”
Earlier in the week, CNN carried a statement from Khashoggi’s family that called for an international commission to investigate his “death.”
Vice President Mike Pence, arriving in Colorado for a campaign event, said the world deserves to know what happened to journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
He told reporters at Buckley Air Force Base that the Saudi investigation will be completed in a matter of days.
But he added, “When we have that information, and we won’t solely rely on that information. We’ll collect all the evidence and the President will have a decision to make and what the proper course of action is for us going forward. But, the world deserves answers.”
“If what has been alleged occurred, if an innocent person lost at the hands of violence, that is to be condemned. If a journalist lost their life at the hand of violence, that is a threat to a free and independent press around the world and there will be consequences. But we’ll wait for the facts, we’ll wait for all of the information to come in.”
United Nations spokesperson Stephane Dujarric expressed that it is too soon for Secretary-General António Guterres to ask for an investigation into the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
He was responding to Thursday’s call by Amnesty International and others to have Turkey ask for an outside independent UN ordered probe.
Dujarric, speaking at a daily televised press briefing, said Guterres wants the truth to come out but added that the investigations that are already underway need to progress.
The spokesman said the UN leader, in order to establish a UN investigation, would need a legislative directive from a UN body and cooperation by Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
However, some investigations in the UN system take place without a nation’s agreement.
Let’s “take things one step at a time,” he said.
Earlier, UK Ambassador to the UN Karen Pierce told reporters she is not aware of any request to the UN to investigate.
A source familiar with the investigation said Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, a Saudi intelligence officer and former diplomat, played a “pivotal role” in the apparent murder of Jamal Khashoggi.
The source said that Mutreb was fully aware of “the plot” of the operation.
CNN has previously reported that Mutreb is one of the men under investigation by Turkish authorities. Mutreb is closely connected to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a Saudi source told CNN.
“He was seconded to an elite protection brigade within the Royal Guard to serve as the personal security force of [the Crown Prince],” the source told CNN.
Photographs have emerged of Mutreb with bin Salman during the Crown Prince’s tour of the United States earlier this year.
There were a few main factors in the decision to scrap Steven Mnuchin’s planned participation in the Future Investment Initiative, according to a senior administration official.
The chief factor? The withdrawal on Thursday of several of Mnuchin’s European counterparts, including ministers from France and the UK. Both Mnuchin and President Trump had been waiting to see what other countries would do before deciding themselves.
Another factor was pressure from business leaders who themselves had made the decision to withdraw. In calls last week and over the weekend, top executives told Mnuchin they wanted to cancel and encouraged him to as well. But Mnuchin told them it was not his call, but Trump’s.
Ultimately many top executives — including some close to Trump and his family — pulled out before Mnuchin. But Mnuchin’s plans remained in place, even as he relayed the concerns from the business leaders to Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Trump insisted no decision be made until other countries made their own announcements.
President Trump, who met with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo this morning, said they discussed the Saudi situation in “great detail.”
Pompeo had just returned to Washington after meeting with Turkish and Saudi officials concerning the disappearance and apparent death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Earlier today, Pompeo emerged from the meeting with Trump and said he advised the President to give the Saudis a few days to complete an investigation.
Here are Trump’s tweets:
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin just tweeted that he will not participate in upcoming Future Investment Initiative conference in Saudi Arabia.
Some context: In recent days, a number of big names who recently pulled out of the conference, which is dubbed the “Davos of the desert.”
Those business A-listers include IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde and London Stock Exchange CEO David Schwimmer.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo just left a meeting with Trump, where he briefed the President on his recent travels to Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
Pompeo had met with Turkish and Saudi officials concerning the disappearance and apparent death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
He said Saudi officials are working on a “complete, thorough investigation” that will be completed “in a timely fashion.”
“This report itself will be transparent for everyone to see, to ask questions about,” he said. “I told President Trump this morning we ought to give them a few more days to complete that, so that we, too, have a complete understanding of the facts surrounding that.”
He added: “At which point, we can make decisions about how or if the United States should respond to the incident surrounding Mr. Khashoggi.”
Watch more:
Karen Attiah, who edited Jamal Khashoggi’s final piece in the Washington Post, said the journalist’s last column highlighted what he cared about most: Bringing freedom of expression to the Arab world.
The column — titled “What the Arab world needs most is free expression” — bemoaned the lack of free expression in region, leaving the majority of its population “unable to adequately address” issues that matter to them.
“This particular column just really does illustrate what he was most passionate about,” Attiah told CNN. “He really just felt that the Arab world needed independent, trustworthy platforms for these voices and for these journalists.”
The Washington Post published Khashoggi’s final column last night, in both English and Arabic, Attiah said. She said it was a way to “honor him and his audience.”
Watch more from Attiah in the clip below:
Liam Fox, the UK’s Secretary of State for International Trade, pulled out of the Future Investment Initiative conference in Saudi Arabia Thursday due to concerns over the disappearance and apparent murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
A government spokesperson told CNN that Fox “decided the time is not right for him to attend.”
On the ongoing investigation into the disappearance and apparent killing of Khashoggi, the spokesperson added that “the UK remains very concerned.”
Some context: Fox’s decision to cancel his trip to Saudi Arabia follows that of a number of big names who recently pulled out of the conference, which is dubbed the “Davos of the desert.”
Those business A-listers include IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde and London Stock Exchange CEO David Schwimmer.
The office of Istanbul’s chief public prosecutor said Thursday that the investigation into Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance complies with all its dimensions with respect to international law and agreements, according to state news agency Anadolu.
The public will be informed about the ongoing Khashoggi investigation “when necessary,” a statement from the prosecutor’s office added, according to Anadolu.
The Washington Post published what the newspaper describes as the “last piece” written by missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was allegedly killed and dismembered in his country’s consulate in Istanbul earlier this month.
In the piece, Khashoggi bemoaned the lack of free expression in the Arab world, leaving the majority of its population “unable to adequately address, much less publicly discuss, matters that affect the region and their day-to-day lives.”
In a note at the top of the column, published late Wednesday, Post Global Opinions editor Karen Attiah wrote that she “held off publishing it because we hoped Jamal would come back to us.”
“Now I have to accept: That is not going to happen,” she said. “This is the last piece of his I will edit for The Post. This column perfectly captures his commitment and passion for freedom in the Arab world. A freedom he apparently gave his life for.”
President Trump will meet Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday as the White House struggles to contain a spiraling crisis over a journalist’s apparent death at a Saudi consulate.
Pompeo returned to Washington on Wednesday after an emergency diplomatic mission to meet Saudi and Turkish leaders.
What Trump’s been saying: Trump stressed Wednesday that he does not want to abandon Riyadh as it comes under increasing pressure to explain the disappearance of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, who has not been seen since entering the consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on October 2.
Trump denied that he was “giving cover” to Saudi Arabia, insisting that he wants to get to the bottom of what happened.
Dr. Salah Muhammad al-Tubaiqi, one of 15 Saudi men who Turkish officials believe are connected to Khashoggi’s apparent death, spent three months studying at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine (VIFM) in Australia starting in June 2015.
Deb Withers, a spokeswoman for VIFM, told CNN on Thursday that Tubaiqi was at the institute as a forensic pathologist and that his study was paid for by the government of Saudi Arabia.
He was the head of Saudi Arabia’s Forensic Commission at the time of his visit to Australia, VIFM’s annual report from 2014-2015 notes.
Withers told CNN that Tubaiqi’s focus while at the institute was on methods in mass body identification, particularly related to the Hajj, according to his application for the placement at the VIFM. His application included a focus on CT scanning in autopsy, or “bloodless autopsy,” that is, being able to identify cause of death without cutting up a cadaver.
Withers said Tubaiqi spent time viewing autopsies, viewing procedures in the mortuary and learning from radiologists concerning CT scans. He was not permitted to perform autopsies or any other procedures.
Turkish Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gül said that the investigation into the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi is ongoing but is expected to be concluded “soon.”
Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul October 2 but has not been seen since. Turkish authorities believe that 15 Saudi men who arrived in Istanbul on October 2 were connected to the Saudi journalist’s likely death. At least some of them appear to have high-level connections in the Saudi government.
“This will be an important case in International law and discussed since it is a unique case. A very detailed and deep investigations is ongoing,” Gül said.
“Right now, after many hours it is our investigators that are continuing the investigation and we are waiting for the results. I trust our police force, intelligence and criminal investigators that they are executing the job well.”
French Economy and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire is the latest world leader to drop out of a Saudi-sponsored global finance and business forum amid the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
“The conditions have not yet been met for me to go to Riyadh,” Le Maire told French television’s Public Senate. “The facts are serious and we want to know the truth,” the minister said.
Other high-profile attendees who pulled out include JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford, IMF managing director Christine Lagarde and Wold Bank President Jim Yong Kim.
A list of other participants who have pulled out can be found here
Former CIA operative and current CNN security analyst Bob Baer says that the President Trump is giving the Saudis cover despite what he said in the Oval Office Wednesday.
When asked about missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Trump said that he’s “not giving cover at all.”
“I want to find out what happened, where is the fault, and we will probably know that by the end of the week,” the President said.
But Baer said he doesn’t think this will move the needle in terms of the broader relationship between Riyadh and Washington.
“He can’t afford to lose (Crown Prince) Mohammed bin Salman, he can’t afford to break with Saudi Arabia. He’s desperately looking for a way out of this and as more information comes out and more details and forensics, the harder it’s going to be,” said Baer.
“The very fact that the FBI, even symbolically, wasn’t sent to Istanbul tells me we’re not all that interested in the details. And the United States has not called for an international investigative body to look into this, which is the obvious next step,” Baer said.
When asked by reporters, Trump declined to say whether the US has dispatched FBI agents to Istanbul in relation to the case.
“We depend upon Saudi Arabia as much as they depend on us. It’s a very ugly marriage and I don’t see it getting broken up,” said Baer.
The Washington Post has published what is likely journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s final column.
The piece, which discussed why the Arab world needs freedom of expression, was accompanied by a heartfelt note from the Post’s global opinions editor, Karen Attiah.
“This column perfectly captures his commitment and passion for freedom in the Arab world. A freedom he apparently gave his life for. I will be forever grateful he chose The Post as his final journalistic home one year ago and gave us the chance to work together,” she wrote.
Nick Kristof, a columnist at The New York Times who has known Khashoggi for 15 years, told CNN Tonight that he could hear the Saudi journalist’s voice in the column.
“This is what he cared deeply about, about expanding space for freedom of expression in the Arab world, and that got him killed,” Kristof said. “It’s too late for us to help Jamal. It’s not too late for us to exercise some of that leverage we do have to help other people.”
New York Times columnist Nick Kristof told CNN Tonight that there may be a risk that Saudi Arabia, the United States and Turkey may look for a “fall guy” to take the blame if it’s found that journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed when he disappeared inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul earlier this month.
Turkish officials have told CNN that Khashoggi’s body was dismembered after he was killed in the consulate, and Middle East experts say such a mission would have had to have been approved at the highest levels.
A scapegoat would be convenient for the Saudi Arabia because it would shift blame and embarrassment from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the heir to the throne in the kingdom.
“That would be convenient for all three countries,” Kristof said. “There is some risk that the three of these (countries) will agree on some weak and unconvincing explanation from MBS blaming it on somebody else.”
The Trump administration has bet on Saudi Arabia and specifically the crown prince as a key partner to help stabilize the Middle East and act as a counterweight to Iran. MBS, as he’s known colloquially, was touted as a reformer in his rise to power but his aggressive policies – including sponsoring a war in Yemen and purging much of his opposition – have worried the West.
The secretary-general of the Council of Arab Ministers of the Interior, Mohammed bin Ali Koman, called on the media to avoid speculating on what happened to missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi before the investigation has concluded, according to a report in Saudi state news agency SPA.
He also welcomed the formation of a joint working group from Saudi and Turkish experts to investigate the case, SPA reported.
The call for patience echoes similar statements from US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
“I think we have to find out what happened first,” Trump said when asked by The Associated Press if he believes Saudi King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Pompeo refused to talk about the facts of the case when asked Wednesday.
“They (the Saudis) want to have the opportunity to complete this investigation in a thorough way, and I think that’s a reasonable thing to do, to give them that opportunity. And then we’ll all get to judge, we’ll all get to evaluate the work that they do,” Pompeo said.
Republican Sen. Ben Sasse said he believes there should be an “international investigation” into what happened to Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and added that his disappearance will not be “swept under the rug.”
“I have lots of confidence in the US intelligence community,” the Nebraska lawmaker told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Wednesday. “And I think that they’re building information that’s very useful for the President to understand, and I hope he’s listening to all that information – not just the arguments that are coming from Saudi officials.”
Asked whether he would vote to sanction Saudi Arabia should it be proven that the country’s leadership ordered the death of Khashoggi, Sasse said that “everything needs to be on the table.”
A source familiar with the meeting between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday tells CNN that the smiling photo-op should not be read as to indicate the meeting was friendly.
The source said the smiles ended at the end of the photo op. Pompeo told the crown prince in no uncertain terms that he had to own the situation and that every fact is going to get out and he must own it, the source said.
The source said Pompeo also made it clear to the crown prince that the Saudis had to get their investigation done very quickly. Pompeo stressed that time is short and that the Saudis have to deal with the people involved sharply, the source said.
Pompeo went on to tell the crown prince bluntly that if they don’t, the US will have to deal with this. Pompeo told the crown prince the US will take action because the world will demand it and that President Trump’s hand will be forced by the global pressure.
Pompeo told the crown prince he had to own what happened and that even if the crown prince didn’t know about it beforehand, he has to own it. Pompeo stressed to the crown prince that his future as king is at stake.
The source did not describe how the crown prince or the Saudis reacted but said the message had been received.
The source said the proof will be in what action the Saudis take, when asked if Pompeo felt crown prince would do anything.
Watch:
Facing scrutiny for his close ties with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Jared Kushner has deliberately stayed in the background this past week, multiple people familiar with the matter say.
Kushner instead has been operating behind-the-scenes to help shape the administration’s response to Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance, which has developed into a diplomatic crisis. He and other senior administration officials have insisted in phone calls to senior Saudi officials that Riyadh investigate the matter.
This past weekend, Kushner urged Prince Mohammed to launch a full and thorough investigation into Khashoggi’s disappearance, a source familiar with the matter said.
His close relationship with Prince Mohammed has raised some eyebrows, and drew early concern from national security advisers. Kushner has met Prince Mohammed several times, and is known to have messaged with the prince on the messaging app WhatsApp.
Instead of flying to the Saudi capital this week with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Kushner remained in Washington, attending West Wing meetings as scheduled.
When a reporter tried to ask about Khashoggi’s disappearance on Tuesday, a Secret Service agent traveling with Kushner said, “I don’t give a damn who you work for… There’s a time and a place.”
Watch:
Sen. John Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana, was blunt this afternoon about what he believes happened to missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
“I think Mr. Khashoggi is dead. I don’t think the aliens abducted him. I don’t think he fell through a hole in the space-time continuum. I think he’s dead. And I think the Saudis killed him,” he said. “And I think whether King Salman or Prince Mohammad knew about it or not is really irrelevant. They’re captains of the ship.”
Kennedy said the US needs to “condemn the conduct in the strongest possible terms.”
“This kind of conduct is unacceptable, and it undermines the sovereignty of Saudi Arabia, in the court of public opinion,” he said.
Kennedy went on to declare that there are “no democracies in the Middle East” (aside from Israel) and said the region has become “more authoritarian,” despite US attempts to remake it.
“With the exception of Israel, I trust every country in the Middle East as much as I trust gas station sushi,” he said.
Most of the big names who were due to attend Saudi Arabia’s investment conference next week have bailed out following the disappearance and apparent murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde joined the list of dropouts on Wednesday.
The biggest question mark now hangs over the attendance of US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who said he’ll make a decision Thursday on whether to attend the conference.
Mnuchin said that he plans to decide after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who visited Saudi Arabia earlier this week, briefs President Donald Trump.
These are the high-profile participants who have already pulled out:
Watch:
US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell warned that the purported killing of a journalist Jamal Khashoggi is “really going to challenge” for the Saudi-US relationship.
In a wide-ranging briefing with reporters on Capitol Hill, McConnell refused to criticize President Trump’s handling of the situation with the Saudis and the President’s decision to continually stress that the Saudis denied killing Khashoogi.
Instead, he said that there needed to be an investigation first before any decision on how to move forward.
“Once we know precisely what happened with a credible investigation, then we need to decide the appropriate response is. I can’t imagine there will be no response.”
“We know our alliance with Saudi Arabia, which has existed for a long time under both parties is because we have aligning interests in that area. … So it’s been kind of a pragmatic relationship. … This particular incident is going to really challenge that. But I think it’s too early to predict what the consequences may be.”
McConnell would not say if he had any concerns with the kingdom’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – or if he had any views on Trump’s handling of the situation.
“I’m not going to comment on the President’s take on this,” he said, declining repeated questions on the matter.
President Trump was just asked about Turkish claims that they have audio of Jamal Khashoggi’s purported murder.
The President said he’s asked for the audio, but then hedged “if it exists.”
Here’s how the exchange with reporters went down:
Question: Mr. President, you asked for this audio/video intelligence —
Trump: “We have asked for it, if it exists. We have asked.”
Question: But you haven’t gotten it?
Trump: “We asked for it, if it exists.”
Question: Are you surprised they haven’t turned it over?
Trump: “I’m not sure yet that it exists. It probably does. Possibly does. I’ll have a full report on that from Mike when he comes back. That’s one of the things — that’s going to be the first question I ask him.”
Some context: Earlier today, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he had “nothing to say” about the Turkish claims that they have audio.
President Trump, speaking during a pool spray ahead of his cabinet meeting on Wednesday, said that while he was awaiting Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s report after his visit to Saudi Arabia and Turkey, “Saudi Arabia has been a very important ally of ours in the Middle East.”
“If you look at Saudi Arabia, they’re an ally and they’re a purchaser of military equipment among other things,” Trump said. He added that he wants “to find out what happened and where is the fault,” and hopes to know by the end of the week.
Asked why he hasn’t sent the FBI to investigate, Trump said, “He wasn’t a citizen of this country for one thing,” but then left open the possibility that he already has told the FBI to look into Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance.
“You don’t know whether or not we have, do you?” he asked a reporter. “Do you know whether we have sent the FBI?”
“I’m not going to tell you, he added. “Why would I tell you?”
Watch:
President Trump said he is hopeful that the situation with Saudi Arabia will work itself out following an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Jamal Khashoggi.
“We need Saudi Arabia,” the President said, before ticking down a list of items from the fight against terrorism to Iran.
Trump also reiterated that he does not want to cancel the arms deal he struck with Saudi Arabia last year despite the urging of numerous members of Congress, calling it “a tremendous order.”
The President also claimed that the $115 billion arms deal — which has yet to come close to fruition — would produce “500,000 jobs,” a figure that is unsubstantiated.
Trump also stressed that he hopes King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammad did not know about what happened to Khashoggi.
“That’s a big factor in my eyes,” Trump said.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo again said the US would give Turkey and Saudi Arabia space to complete their investigation into Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance before discussing any potential responses.
Before taking off from Ankara, Pompeo said he had “nothing to say” about the Turkish claims that they have audio of Khashoggi’s murder. He said he discussed the Khashoggi case with Turkish officials Wednesday, and “we made clear that the Saudis had cooperated with the investigation the Turks are engaged in.”
“There were some delays, but they seemed pretty confident that the Saudis would let them do the things that they need to complete the investigation,” Pompeo said.
Pompeo pushed back on the idea that the US was giving the Saudis “the benefit of the doubt.”
“I keep hearing that we’re giving them some benefit of the doubt. They’re going to do an investigation. And when the investigation comes out we’ll evaluate it. It’s not about benefit of the doubt … It’s that it is reasonable to give them a handful of days more to complete it, so they get it right, so that it’s thorough and complete. And that’s what they, that’s what they’ve indicated they need and I’m hopeful they—and then we’ll get to see it. It won’t, we’ll evaluate this on a factual, straight-up basis.” Pompeo then added, “sooner is better than later” for all involved.
However, Pompeo noted it was important to consider that the US has “lots of important relationships” with the Saudis — financial, governmental, countering Iran.
“I could go on about the places that the Saudis and the US are working together,” he said, adding that the US needs “to make sure that we’re mindful of that” as it forms potential responses.
About a dozen Turkish forensic investigators entered the Saudi Arabia consul general’s residence in Istanbul on Wednesday. They were wearing gloves and white hazmat suits topped with black vests labeled “police.”
A security source tells CNN that they will conduct a “comprehensive crime scene investigation” on the premises.
The teams arrived around 4:45 p.m. Istanbul time (that’s 9:45 a.m. ET) in 5 white vans.
Five white vans arrived at the Saudi consul’s residence in Istanbul just before 10 a.m. ET this morning and Turkish investigators entered the building, CNN teams outside the consul general residence in Istanbul witnessed.
Police had set up barriers around the residence a little more than an hour before.
Turkey had wanted to search the residence a day earlier.
Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said Wednesday morning the search would happen “once a joint consensus is reached.”
It’s been almost two weeks after Khashoggi went missing.
Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, a Saudi diplomat and intelligence officer, is among the men under investigation by the Turkish authorities as part of the probe of the disappearance and suspected death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Mutreb was the first secretary at the Saudi embassy in London, according to a 2007 UK government list of foreign diplomats and a Saudi source in London who knew him and described him as a colonel in Saudi intelligence.
Why this matters: Mutreb is closely connected to Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman, a Saudi source told CNN.
“He was seconded to an elite protection brigade within the Royal Guard to serve as the personal security force of [the Crown Prince],” the source told CNN.
Two sources familiar with the investigation previously confirmed to CNN that he was among eight men listed by Turkey’s semi-official Anadolu news agency who were of interest in the ongoing criminal investigation.
He is believed to be part of a group of 15 Saudis, most of whom flew to Istanbul on the day of Khashoggi’s disappearance, two sources familiar with the investigation told CNN last week.
Mutreb’s passport, however, wasn’t part of seven passport scans Turkish authorities gave CNN to identify Saudi suspects in the ongoing investigation.
The Saudis are preparing a report that will acknowledge the death of Jamal Khashoggi — the Saudi journalist who went missing two weeks ago — was the result of an interrogation that went wrong inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. , two sources say.
Turkish authorities are investigating Khashoggi’s disappearance, and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has been meeting with both Saudi royals and Turkish officials.
Here’s where things stand now:
There is a big question mark hanging over whether French Minster for Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire will travel to the Saudi conference dubbed “Davos in the desert” as the furor around the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi intensifies.
The summit was set up by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in a bid to transform the oil-dependent economy. It is due to commence on October 23.
Le Maire will make a decision on his attendance later this week, according to the French economy ministry.
He’s not the only one still mulling over attendance at the conference. US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is still scheduled to attend but President Donald Trump said a final decision would be made by Friday.
Elsewhere on Wednesday, the International Monetary Fund said in a statement late Tuesday that Managing Director Christine Lagarde’s trip to the Middle East for the conference next week has been “deferred.”
It’s an abrupt change of position from Lagarde, who said as recently as Saturday that she still planned to speak at the event in Riyadh despite being horrified by reports about Khashoggi’s disappearance.
Here’s a full list of the A-listers pulling out of the Saudi summit.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed a range of issues including Syria, Iran and counterterrorism during his meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Ankara on Wednesday.
“The Secretary welcomed the decision to return Pastor Andrew Brunson and reiterated the United States’ willingness to assist Turkey in its investigation of the Jamal Khashoggi case,” according to a statement from US State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert.
“The Secretary also discussed with Foreign Minister Cavusoglu the continued wrongful detention of Dr. Serkan Golge and other U.S. citizens as well as locally employed staff from US Mission Turkey,” she added.
Separately, Cavusoglu said Pompeo was in Ankara “delivering (US President) Trump’s messages” but added that he also “told us about the Saudi side” having met with US officials the day before.
The search of the Saudi consul general’s residence in Istanbul will commence once a joint consensus is reached, according to Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Wednesday.
“There is an agreement, but for the search to start, there must be a joint consensus,” he said. “Once a joint consensus is reached, this step (to search the residence) will be taken,” Soylu said.
“We have managed and are continuing to manage this issue transparently,” he added.
A search of the residence was due to take place on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the consul general himself, Mohammed al-Otaibi, left Turkey on Tuesday, Anadolu said.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has now left Turkey after meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu to address the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi on Wednesday.
Khashoggi vanished after entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 4 where he was hoping to collect documents for his upcoming marriage. He has not been seen since.
Pompeo flew into Turkey on Wednesday morning after meeting with Saudi officials in Riyadh the day before. According to the pool of reporters traveling with the top US diplomat, the meeting with Erdogan at Ankara’s Esenboga Airport lasted 40 minutes. It was followed by the meeting with Cavusoglu.
While at the terminal, Pompeo also met with the families of the three locally hired US State Department employees who were detained in a crackdown following the failed coup attempt against Erdogan in 2016.
Pompeo’s next stop will be Brussels, according to the pool.
Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Wednesday that searches conducted within the Saudi consulate revealed “a large number of DNA cell samples” after the chemical luminol was sprayed and a special light was used.
Anadolu added that crime scene investigators “took samples in the consulate and consulate sewers in recent days and last night while they were searching.”
The samples will be taken to the Directorate of Criminal Police Laboratory in Halkalı, according to the state-run news service.
In regard to continuing searches on Wednesday, Anadolu reported that “the underground garage and the water well used by the consular house in the past will also be scrutinized.”
Anadolu did not provide the source of the information it released.
Before getting on a plane from Saudi Arabia to Turkey, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Saudi Arabia is committed to conducting a “thorough, complete and transparent” investigation into the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Pompeo said:
They made a commitment too, to hold anyone connected to any wrongdoing that may be found, accountable for that. Whether they are a senior officer official, they promised accountability for each of those persons, whom they determine as a result of their investigation as – deserves accountability.
The top American diplomat refused to say whether Saudi officials told him if Khashoggi was dead or alive.
“I don’t want to talk about any of the facts. They didn’t want to either and that they want to have the opportunity to complete this investigation in a thorough way… I think that’s a reasonable thing to do to give them that opportunity and then we’ll all get to judge. We’ll all get to evaluate that work that they do,” he said.
Pompeo met with Saudi King Salman, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir in Riyadh on Tuesday after he was dispatched to the region by US President Donald Trump.
He was to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Turkish capital Ankara later on Wednesday.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has arrived in the Turkish capital of Ankara to discuss the case of missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to reporters traveling with him.
President Donald Trump has defended Saudi Arabia as accusations mount over its de facto ruler’s close links to the men who apparently killed a journalist in the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul.
Saudi Arabia has come under intense international pressure to explain Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance after he visited the consulate on October 2 to obtain papers that would have allowed him to marry his Turkish fiancée.
The disappearance of Khashoggi, an insider-turned-critic of the Saudi government, has prompted international outrage and calls for punitive action against Saudi Arabia.
It has also thrown Trump’s close ties with the kingdom into the spotlight as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is engaged on a tough diplomatic mission to contain the crisis.
Trump suggested in an interview on Tuesday that the wave of criticism the Middle Eastern kingdom has faced over Khashoggi’s disappearance is premature, comparing the case to sexual assault allegations against recently confirmed Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Two lobbying firms have ended their business with the government of Saudi Arabia following the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Glover Park Group has ended its $150,000/month contract to represent the Saudi Embassy in Washington, according to a source familiar with the company. The Washington Post first reported the cancellation.
CNN reported on Friday that the Harbour Group is also ending its $80,000/month lobbying contract with the Saudi Embassy, according to managing director Richard Mintz. The termination letter would be filed with the Department of Justice by the end of the month, Mintz said. The New York Times first reported the news.
Prominent Republican lawmakers on Tuesday continued to forcefully call for answers and retaliatory action over the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi while they wait to see how the Trump administration will respond.
Here are a few of the senators who have spoken out:
There have been bipartisan efforts as well: last week, a group of senators, including Republican Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee and Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, sent a letter to the administration triggering an investigation into Khashoggi’s disappearance.
Ambassador Gary Grappo, the former deputy chief of mission at the US embassy in Saudi Arabia, said he believes that if missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed when he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul earlier this month, it “had to have been ordered at the very highest levels of the Saudi government.”
“From all accounts, it seems as though a hit was ordered,” Grappo, who is also the former US ambassador to Oman, told CNN.
Grappo said he believes that the incident will prove to be a major inflection point for the Trump administration, which has been accused of ignoring human rights issues.
“Are they prepared to stand up and defend American values with respect to human rights the way every single previous administration has done in recent memory?” Grappo said.
Watch the interview below:
President Trump addressed Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance in an interview on Fox News, saying that if King Salman or Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman knew about the killing, “that would be bad.”
“Turkey and Saudi Arabia are looking at it very strongly. And it depends whether or not the King or the Crown Prince knew about it, in my opinion. Number one, what happened, but whether or not they knew about it. If they knew about it, that would be bad,” Trump said.
Watch the video here:
Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of Britain’s opposition Labour party, called the purported killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi “an abominable tragedy” in an interview with CNN’s Nina Dos Santos.
“The issues that have come to light of the death in Istanbul of a Saudi national who was visiting the embassy, call into question the relationship – the close relationship –- with Saudi Arabia of so many western countries. Our immediate call is for the suspension of all arms supplies to Saudi Arabia,” he said.
Corbyn also criticized Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative government for being too slow to respond to the incident.
Saudi Arabia’s big investment conference has lost another high-profile guest after International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde dropped out.
The Saudi event, known as “Davos in the desert,” has suffered an exodus of global business leaders, including the CEOs of JPMorgan (JPM) and Uber, following the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist who was critical of the Saudi government.
The IMF said in a statement late Tuesday that Lagarde’s trip to the Middle East for the conference “is being deferred.”
It’s an abrupt change of position from the fund’s managing director, who said as recently as Saturday that she still planned to attend the event despite being horrified by reports about Khashoggi’s disappearance.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he will meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan “if all goes as planned.”
Pompeo is traveling to Turkey after visiting Saudi Arabia to discuss missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi with King Salman, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir.
Pompeo said in his meetings with the three Saudi leaders that he “stressed the importance of them conducting a complete investigation into the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi.”
“They said it would be a thorough, complete and transparent investigation … they made a commitment that they would show the entire world the results of their investigation,” Pompeo said.
“They also indicated they would get this done quickly. I don’t know the precise timeline but they indicated they understood the importance of getting this done in a timely, rapid fashion.”
A Saudi mission to interrogate and possibly abduct journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul was organized by a high-ranking officer with the General Intelligence Presidency, Saudi Arabia’s main intelligence service, three sources familiar with the case told CNN.
One of those sources described the officer as close to the inner circle of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. It is unclear whether the crown prince authorized an interrogation or abduction. Several officials CNN spoke with said the apparent killing could not have happened without the direct knowledge of the 33-year-old crown prince, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, who is known by his initials “MBS.”
A second source said the officer assembled and sent his own team to interrogate Khashoggi. They suspected Khashoggi of having ties to the kingdom’s arch rival, Qatar, the source said. There has been no evidence to substantiate Khashoggi had such ties.
Another source told CNN the mission’s organizer was not transparent about what he told Riyadh, explaining why the government had no clear information for days.
It’s not clear whether these elements will be included in the report ordered by the Saudi authorities into the affair. On Monday, sources told CNN that the report will acknowledge that Khashoggi died in a botched interrogation, one that was intended to lead to his abduction from Turkey.
In an interview with The Associated Press at the White House, President Trump said that criticism being mounted against Saudi Arabia for its purported role in the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi is premature.
“I think we have to find out what happened first,” Trump said.
According to the AP, Trump compared the case to recently confirmed Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, during whose confirmation process women came forward alleging Kavanaugh had committed sexual assault.
“Here we go again with you know you’re guilty until proven innocent,” Trump.
At a press conference Tuesday afternoon, Attorney General Jeff Sessions addressed Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance and defended the role of journalists.
“The matter’s being given serious evaluation,” Sessions said when asked about the situation, although though he declined to comment on “what might be occurring.”
Then, seemingly addressing both Khashoggi and journalists writ large, including those killed covering Mexican drug cartels, Sessions said the trend was “unacceptable.”
“I feel strongly about it. The President feels strongly about it,” he added. “We at the Department of Justice will do what we can and I think maybe give new attention to this issue.”
Attorney General Jeff Sessions, responding to a question from CNN’s Laura Jarrett on the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi during a press conference at the Justice Department, said that “the matter is being given serious evaluation.”
Sessions left open the door to potential US involvement, saying, “The FBI understands its responsibilities and I’m not able to comment on any details of what might be occurring.” He would offer no additional information. He also would not comment on the credibility of the investigation.
The pressure on Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is rising as he decides whether to still attend a high-profile investor conference in Saudi Arabia next week.
Sen. Jeff Flake, a Republican from Arizona, just tweeted, “Secretary Mnuchin should not be going to Riyadh.”
On Sunday, Sen. Marco Rubio told CNN’s Jake Tapper that he didn’t think Mnuchin should attend.
President Trump that a final call would be made on Friday about the conference, and he opened the door to the possibility that Mnuchin may cancel.
If Mnuchin drops out, he will join a number of top bank executives, investors, and media sponsors who have withdrawn since the Khashoggi news broke.
In two tweets Tuesday afternoon, President Trump said he spoke with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and that Salman “totally denied any knowledge” of what happened with missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
“Just spoke with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia who totally denied any knowledge of what took place in their Turkish Consulate,” Trump wrote. “Answers will be forthcoming shortly.”
Trump had spoken with Saudi King Salman by phone on Monday. After that call, he said Salman gave a “flat denial” of responsibility. Trump also said “rogue killers” could be behind Khashoggi’s disappearance.
Here are the tweets from today:
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will fly to Ankara, Turkey, on Wednesday, State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert said.
He will hold talks with Turkish officials on the case of Jamal Khashoggi.
Pompeo had been in Saudi Arabia today, holding talks with top Saudi leaders. Sources tell CNN that the Kingdom is preparing to acknowledge that missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.
Vice President Mike Pence promised to “get to the bottom” for Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance.
“It’s important that the world knows the truth. If in fact Mr. Khashoggi was murdered, we need to know who was responsible. We need to hold those responsible,” he said. “We’re going to get to the bottom of it.”
Pence, who is in Georgia today, said Khashoggi’s job as a journalist adds to the importance of the case.
He added: “So, we’re gonna demand answers, the world deserves answers.”
A Turkish official has told CNN that journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s body was cut into pieces after he was killed.
This confirms earlier reporting by the New York Times.
Watch more:
President Trump has no events on his public schedule today and has spent the morning in the White House.
He’s making a round of calls, some of which are focused on Saudi Arabia diplomatic crisis, but he’s also watching considerable TV — as part of his usual routine, a White House official said, which explains the buffet of tweet topics this morning.
The particularly vulgar tweet about Stormy Daniels — not to mention Elizabeth Warren or Nellie Ohr — certainly seem intended to try and change the subject from Saudi Arabia.
The President has told people in conversations this morning that he is aggravated at the coverage of Saudi Arabia crisis, and senior White House officials have tried to impress upon him how serious this matter is.
Asked directly whether he was trying to change the subject of cable TV coverage today, the official said this:
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the residence and car of the Istanbul Consul General of Saudi Arabia “will be investigated” on Tuesday as part of the investigation into missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
It comes as Turkey’s Anadolu Agency reported that the Consul General Mohammed Otaibi has left Turkey.
Speaking at a news conference in Ankara, Cavusoglu said:
“Our aim is very clear: we have to learn what happened to Khashoggi who was lost in the Saudi Arabia consulate. The whole world is focused on the outcome of this investigation right now. We are talking about a human. It is important that he is a journalist but more importantly he is a human.”
Speaking of the investigation into Khashoggi’s disappearance, Cavusoglu said, “It is very important that this process will continue with no obstacles.
It is also important to continue cooperation with Saudi Arabia and transparency of the process is extremely critical so that there will not be any question marks remaining about the investigation.”
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told CNN Tuesday, “The most important thing is what happened to this person? We didn’t receive any confession or information from Saudi Arabia.”
Speaking at a news conference in Ankara, Çavuşoğlu said, “This process needs to be result-oriented and must be transparent. This should be clarified so no one should have any question mark.”
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will “bring information from Riyadh,” when he arrives in Turkey after his visit to Saudi Arabia regarding the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Çavuşoğlu added.
Çavuşoğlu also stated that Turkish officials will extend their investigation into the disappearance of Khashoggi to include the residence of the Saudi consul and some vehicles.
Turkish police entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul late on Monday for the first time since he vanished two weeks ago, searching the premises for nine hours.
The Istanbul Consul General of Saudi Arabia Mohammed Otaibi has left Turkey, according semiofficial Anadolu news agency.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in a press conference in Ankara that Saudi diplomats in Turkey could go back to their country whenever they want and that, “there is not restriction on that.”
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham criticized Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during an interview with Fox News this morning.
He called the prince a “wrecking ball,” and alleged he ordered the “murder” of Jamal Khashoggi.
“He’s the 33-year-old crown prince who jumped over other people. He is son of the existing king. And I think he is on a bad track. I can never do business with Saudi Arabia again until we get this behind us,” Graham said of the prince.
When asked what he meant by that Graham added: “That means I’m not going back to Saudi Arabia as long as this guy is in charge.”
“I feel used and abused,” Graham said, adding that Saudi Arabia is a “good ally.”
The senator said it’s up to the President on how to handle the situation, but added that he would “sanction the hell out of Saudi Arabia.”
“Saudi Arabia, if you’re listening, there are a lot of people you can choose but MBS has tainted your country and tainted himself,” he said.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke with President Trump and National Security Advisor John Bolton following his meetings in Riyadh.
Pompeo held separate meetings with King Salman, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and the Saudi Foreign Minister, according to a statement from the State Department spokesperson. She describes those meetings as “both direct and candid.”
“While the United States has a number of regional and bilateral issues to discuss with Saudi leadership, learning what happened to Jamal Khashoggi is the primary purpose of this trip and is of great interest to the President. The Secretary has made that clear in each of his meetings today,” the statement said.
In Bloomberg TV interview, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said US relations with Saudi Arabia are “not great.”
Here’s how the interview went down:
Question: Where is the US/Saudi relationship right now?
McConnell: “Well, not great. I think it’s good that the President sent the Secretary of State to talk to the King. We need to find out first what happened before deciding what kind of response is appropriate.
Question: Do you think there will be some sort of response if these allegations are true?
McConnell: “I can’t imagine there won’t be but I think we need to find out what happened.”
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman today, and he “reiterated the President’s concern” about the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, the State Department said.
“The Secretary and the Crown Prince agreed on the importance of a thorough, transparent, and timely investigation that provides answers,” Pompeo’s spokesperson Heather Nauert said in a statement.
Here’s the full statement from Nauert:
Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo met today with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh. The Secretary reiterated the President’s concern with respect to Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance, as well as the President’s desire to determine what happened. The Secretary welcomed Saudi Arabia’s support of the Turkish authorities’ investigation. The Secretary and the Crown Prince agreed on the importance of a thorough, transparent, and timely investigation that provides answers. The two also discussed regional and bilateral issues.
As Saudi Arabia reportedly prepares to acknowledge that missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi died at the Saudi consulate in Turkey, President Trump says he has “no financial interests” in the kingdom.
Here’s Trump’s tweet:
President Trump — and the Trump Organization — has a close business relationship with the Saudis.
The President made millions selling apartments in his New York buildings to the kingdom, and the Trump Organization has benefited from Saudi business at its hotels in Washington, New York and Chicago.
Investigators are looking into “toxic material” and “painted over material” as part of the probe into the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters Tuesday.
The new details come a day after the Saudi consulate in Istanbul was searched.
“Right now, as you aware, as a result of our intense contacts, the search process in the consulate has started. Yesterday there was intense process until morning and it will continue,” Erdogan said.
“My hope is that we can reach conclusions that will give us a reasonable opinion as soon as possible, because the investigation is looking into many things such as toxic materials and those materials being removed by painting them over. This will depend on the conclusion that will come out from there,” he added.
The meeting between US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is now over.
It lasted for 35 to 40 minutes, according to the pool reporter traveling with the American diplomat.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has arrived for a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman over the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to the US pool traveling with the Secretary.
CNN’s Nic Robertson writes that the impact of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul two weeks ago could have repercussions that last decades.
“We might be witnessing not only the apparent silencing of a critic, but a spasm in Saudi Arabia’s long-running struggle for power between the kingdom’s sprawling royal lines,” Robertson writes in his latest opinion piece.
Turkish investigators will carry out a search of the Saudi Consul General’s residence on Tuesday as the probe into the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi continues, according to a Turkish diplomatic source.
CCTV footage released to the media from the day the Washington Post writer vanished show movement of vehicles from the consulate building to the Consul General’s residence nearby.
The chief executives of HSBC, Credit Suisse and Standard Chartered are joining the growing list of business and finance executives boycotting Saudi Arabia’s big investment conference dubbed “Davos in the desert,” which is due to kick off on October 23.
HSBC announced Tuesday that its CEO John Flint would no longer attend. Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam will also not go, according to a person familiar with the situation.
London-based bank Standard Chartered also announced on Tuesday that its CEO, Bill Winters, will not be going.
The Saudi conference, officially known as Future Investment Initiative, is part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s plan to transform the oil-dependent economy.
Here is a list of the those still planning to attend:
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet says “immunity should not be used to impede investigations” into the disappearance and “possible extra-judicial killing” of Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul.
Bachelet said in a statement:
“Under international law, both a forced disappearance and an extra-judicial killing are very serious crimes, and immunity should not be used to impede investigations into what happened and who is responsible.”
He added that given Khashoggi was last seen entering the consulate, the “onus is on the Saudi authorities to reveal what happened to him.”
According to the UN statement, both Saudi Arabia and Turkey are signatories of the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which Bachelet said obliges them to investigate possible acts of torture.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s meeting with King Salman of Saudi Arabia lasted no more than 15 minutes, CNN estimates based on the time the top US diplomat’s motorcade arrived at the royal court and departed.
The motorcade arrived at the royal court at 11:42 a.m. (4:42 a.m. ET) and left 26 minutes later. There is a fair distance to walk from where the motorcade dropped Pompeo off to where he met the king.
A Turkish official tells CNN that Saudi Arabia and Turkey are cooperating on the investigation into the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi and said the “mood is positive.”
Turkish investigators carried out a nearly nine-hour search of the Saudi consulate in Istanbul led by the chief prosecutor and police including forensic teams on Monday.
Initial Turkish media reports said that Turkey was seeking permission to also search the Saudi consul general’s house. The search on Monday was limited to the consulate building only.
United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has arrived in Riyadh on Tuesday. He was greeted at the airport by Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir.
During the visit, Pompeo is scheduled to meet with King Salman at Royal Court before having lunch with Minister of Foreign Affairs Adel Al-Jubeir.
Dinner with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is also scheduled.
On Monday, US President Trump spoke with Salman by phone regarding Khashoggi’s disappearance. Speaking to reporters afterwards, Trump said he believed “rogue killers” may have killed Khashoggi, suggesting that was a potential explanation offered up by Salman during their 20-minute conversation.
He added that he was dispatching Pompeo “immediately” to Saudi Arabia, who could go on to Turkey “if necessary.”
The family of missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has issued a statement regarding the whereabouts of their father.
“We are sadly and anxiously following the conflicting news regarding the fate of our father after losing contact with him two weeks ago, when he disappeared after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Our family is traumatized, and yearns to be together during this painful time. The strong moral and legal responsibility which our father instilled in us obliges us to call for the establishment of an independent and impartial international commission to inquire into the circumstances of his death. We are grateful to all those who have respected our privacy during these difficult times.”
Who is Jamal Khashoggi?
Khashoggi is a prominent Saudi journalist, best known for his interview with terror mastermind Osama bin Laden. A royal court insider-turned-critic, Khashoggi left the country in 2017 and began writing for the Washington Post. He has been sharply critical of the current Saudi administration, and its intolerance of those “who dare to express opinions contrary to those” of the leadership.
What happened?
On Tuesday, Oct. 2, Khashoggi went to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to obtain paperwork that would allow him to get married. He entered the building at 1:30 p.m. and has not been seen since.
His fiancée, friends, and editors at the Post began to raise the alarm on Oct. 3. In response to accusations of detaining Khashoggi, the Saudi government denied all claims, asserting that he had left the consulate after his visit.
By that Saturday, the Turkish government had launched an investigation into the disappearance and began reporting that Khashoggi had been killed in the consulate, which Saudi officials denied vehemently.
On Oct. 10, Turkish officials claimed that the “highest levels of the royal court” in Saudi Arabia ordered Khashoggi’s assassination and dismemberment by a 15-man team.
Saudi Arabia faces international backlash
Some of the biggest names in US business and finance have canceled plans to attend a big investment conference in Saudi Arabia, and media sponsors including the New York Times and CNN have pulled out of covering the event.
Media and leaders worldwide are demanding Saudi Arabia explain what happened, with the UK, France and Germany all calling for a “credible investigation” into the events.
Trump under pressure
Though President Trump has expressed concern, he has also been reluctant to criticize the kingdom or its crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. Pressure is mounting on the White House to take a firmer stance; some senators have called for Trump to determine whether to impose sanctions on those responsible.
After a phone call with Saudi King Salman today, Trump suggested that “rogue killers” could be behind Khashoggi’s disappearance, citing Salman’s “flat denial” of responsibility.
What’s happening now
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo left shortly after noon today for Riyadh to meet with King Salman.
Sources say the Saudis are preparing a report that will acknowledge that Khashoggi’s death was the result of an interrogation that went wrong, one that was intended to lead to his abduction from Turkey.
President Trump — and his business — has reaped financial benefits from Saudi Arabia and its representatives.
The President made millions selling apartments in his New York buildings to the kingdom, and the Trump Organization has benefited from Saudi business at its hotels in Washington, New York and Chicago
At the Trump International Hotel in Washington, which has served as something of an unofficial headquarters for foreign governments in the Trump era, a lobbying firm for Saudi Arabia paid the hotel more than $270,000 between October 2016 and March 2017.
Trump hotels in New York and Chicago have had a rush of visitors from Saudi Arabia in recent months, according to The Washington Post, and in New York the Trump International Hotel’s general manager wrote in a letter to room owners in May that revenue had increased in the first quarter of 2018 due to “a last-minute visit to New York by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo may add a stop in Turkey to his current trip to Saudi Arabia, President Trump said Monday.
“He’s got instructions to find out what happened,” Trump said. “It’s a terrible situation … I don’t like it one bit.”
Earlier Monday, Pompeo left Washington for Riyadh at around midday to meet with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman on Trump’s orders, as authorities continue to investigate the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post, was last seen in public when he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2.
President Trump said he had seen press reports that Saudi Arabia is preparing a report acknowledging that Jamal Khashoggi died during an interrogation gone wrong, but said he does not yet know if the report is accurate or just “rumor.”
“I just don’t know. I’m going to have to see what they say,” Trump told reporters at briefing in Warner Robins, Georgia. “Nobody knows if it’s an official report. So far it’s just the rumor of a report coming out.”
The President said he remains eager to get to the bottom of what happened to Khashoggi and noted that Turkey and Saudi Arabia are “working together” to determine what happened.
“There are a lot of people working on it,” he said.
President Trump suggested earlier today that “rogue killers” could be behind the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, after a phone call with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman over the case.
Trump told White House reporters that Salman offered him a “flat denial” in relation to the disappearance of Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post who was last seen in public when he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in Turkey on October 2.
“It sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers, who knows,” Trump said. It was not clear whether Trump was offering his own analysis or whether the suggestion came from Salman.
“We are going to try to get to the bottom of it very soon,” Trump added. “But his was a flat denial.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo left Washington for Riyadh around midday Monday to meet with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman on President Trump’s orders, as the investigation into the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi intensified.
Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post, was last seen in public when he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in Turkey on Oct. 2.
Experts have dismissed claims that a recording of the alleged killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi may have been transmitted using his Apple Watch.
The Turkish newspaper Sabah reported Saturday morning that Khashoggi turned on the recording function of his Apple Watch before walking into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, and that audio clips of his “interrogation, torture and killing were audio recorded and sent to both his phone and to iCloud.”
CNN could not independently verify the Sabah report and was seeking comment from both Saudi and Turkish officials. Saudi Arabia firmly denies any involvement in Khashoggi’s disappearance and says he left the consulate that afternoon.
On Friday, a source familiar with the ongoing investigation told CNN Turkish authorities had audio and visual evidence that showed Khashoggi was killed in the Saudi consulate. It’s unclear how they obtained that evidence though.
And claims the journalist’s smartwatch was able to transmit audio of his alleged murder inside the consulate to his iPhone, which his fiancée was carrying outside the building, are unlikely.
The Saudis are preparing a report that will acknowledge Jamal Khashoggi’s death was the result of an interrogation that went wrong — one that was intended to lead to his abduction from Turkey, according to two sources.
One source says the report will likely conclude that the operation was carried out without clearance and transparency and that those involved will be held responsible.
One of the sources acknowledged that the report is still being prepared and cautioned that things could change.
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