RIYADH – The United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has concludedSaudi’s powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was behind the killing ofjournalist Jamal Khashoggi, US media reported on Friday, citing peopleclose to the matter.
The US assessment directly contradicts the conclusions of a Saudiprosecutor one day prior, which exonerated the prince of involvement in thebrutal murder.
But *The Washington Post*link,which broke the story, said the CIA found that 15 Saudi agents flew ongovernment aircraft to Istanbul and assassinated Khashoggi in the Saudiconsulate.
Queried by *AFP*, the CIA declined to comment.
Khashoggi, a *Post* columnist, had gone to the consulate to obtaindocuments necessary to marry his Turkish fiancee.
Saudi Arabia — which quickly dismissed the reported CIA findings — hasrepeatedly changed its official narrative of the October 2 murder, firstdenying any knowledge of Khashoggi’s whereabouts and later saying he waskilled when an argument degenerated into a fistfight.
In the latest version presented by the Saudi prosecutor on Thursday, a15-member squad was formed to bring Khashoggi back from Istanbul “by meansof persuasion” — but instead ended up killing the journalist anddismembering his body in a “rogue” operation.
The CIA scrubbed multiple intelligence sources, the *Post* said, among thema phone call between the prince’s brother — the Saudi ambassador to theUnited States — and Khashoggi.
The ambassador reportedly told the late journalist that he would be safe togo to the consulate in Istanbul and get the papers he needed.’Some things you can’t do’
But a Saudi embassy spokesperson said that Ambassador Khalid bin Salman hadnever discussed “anything related to going to Turkey” with Khashoggi.
“Amb Prince Khalid bin Salman has never had any phone conversations with(Khashoggi),” the statement posted on the ambassador’s Twitter account said.
link
Read Top Stories
“The claims in this purported assessment is false,” it said.
Meanwhile, the US intelligence agency also said in determining the crownprince’s role it considered him a “de facto ruler” in Saudi Arabia: “Theaccepted position is that there is no way this happened without him beingaware or involved,” the *Post* quoted an official as saying.
That official dubbed Prince Mohammed a “good technocrat” — but also someoneunpredictable who “goes from zero to 60, doesn’t seem to understand thatthere are some things you can’t do”.
*The New York Times* later reported that the CIA findings were also basedon calls from the kill team to one of the crown prince’s senior aides.
But the paper said that while the intercepts showed Prince Mohammed wasworking to lure Khashoggi to Saudi Arabia, the crown prince had not said inthe calls that he wanted Khashoggi killed.
The *NYT* cited officials as saying US and Turkish intelligence as of yethas not found direct evidence connecting the prince to Khashoggi’s killing.
The CIA conclusions nevertheless threaten to further fray relations betweenWashington and key ally Riyadh, which has sought to end discussion of themurder and rejected calls for an international investigation.
On Thursday, the US Treasury slapped sanctions on 17 people, includingclose aides of Prince Mohammed, suggesting a coordinated effort betweenRiyadh and Washington to pre-empt the threat of harsher actions from anoutraged US Congress.
US President Donald Trump has shied from directly blaming the Crown Princebut on Friday agreed with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that “anycover up of the incident should not be allowed”.
