President Trump today called Saudi Arabia as a “spectacular ally” two days after his administration leveled sanctions against 17 Saudi officials for the death of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The CIA has concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the assassination of Khashoggi in Istanbul last month, contradicting the Saudi government’s claims that he was not involved in the killing, according to people familiar with the matter.
Trump said he had not yet been briefed by the CIA.
“As of this moment we were told that he did not play a role,” Trump told reporters. “We’re going to have to find out what they have to say.”
The CIA’s assessment, in which officials have said they have high confidence, is the most definitive to date linking Mohammed to the operation and complicates the Trump administration’s efforts to preserve its relationship with a close ally.
A team of 15 Saudi agents flew to Istanbul on government aircraft in October and killed Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate, where he had gone to pick up documents that he needed for his planned marriage to a Turkish woman.
In reaching its conclusions, the CIA examined multiple sources of intelligence, including a phone call that the prince’s brother Khalid bin Salman, the Saudi ambassador to the United States, had with Khashoggi, according to the people familiar with the matter.
Khalid told Khashoggi, a contributing columnist to The Washington Post, that he should go to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul to retrieve the documents and gave him assurances that it would be safe to do so.
It is not clear if Khalid knew that Khashoggi would be killed, but he made the call at his brother’s direction, according to the people familiar with the call, which was intercepted by U.S. intelligence.
Trump also rejected a Thursday report by NBC News alleging that his administration is considering extraditing exiled Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen in the hope of dissuading Turkish President Recep Erdogan from punishing the Saudis for Khashoggi’s murder.
Trump has a reason to defend Saudi Arabia for business reasons. By his own admission, he’s done millions and millions of dollars worth of business there.
Son-in-law Jared Kushner also has a massive amount of business dealings in Saudi Arabia. In fact, the United States has no ambassador accredited in Riyadh. Instead, the relationship is in the hands of Kushner, which in itself could be a massive financial conflict.
Trump registered eight companies during his presidential campaign that were tied to hotel interests in Saudi Arabia.