WASHINGTON – The United States said Tuesday it was revoking visas ofSaudis involved in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as PresidentDonald Trump ridiculed the kingdom s response as “one of the worstcover-ups” in history.
The move came as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Khashoggi skilling inside the Saudis Istanbul consulate had been meticulouslyplanned, in a speech that overshadowed a long-planned investment forum inRiyadh.
Saudi leaders have denied involvement in the killing, pushingresponsibility down the chain of command.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman “strongly said that he had nothing to dowith this, this was at a lower level,” US President Donald Trump said,adding he had spoken Monday to the prince and his father King Salman.
Trump said the Saudis had a “very bad original concept” in killing the59-year-old Saudi insider-turned-critic.
“It was carried out poorly and the cover-up was one of the worst in thehistory of cover-ups,” Trump said.
“It was a total fiasco,” he later added.
Faced with mounting calls for tough measures by US lawmakers across thepolitical spectrum, the State Department said it had identified 21 Saudiswhose visas would either be revoked or who would be ineligible for futurevisas.
“These penalties will not be the last word on this matter from the UnitedStates,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters.
“We are making very clear that the United States does not tolerate thiskind of action to silence Mr. Khashoggi, a journalist, through violence,”he said.
The top US diplomat said the Saudi suspects came from “the intelligenceservices, the royal court, the foreign ministry and other Saudi ministries.”
Pompeo added the United States was also looking into whether to take actionunder a law named after Sergei Magnitsky, the anti-corruption accountantwho died in Russian custody, that would impose financial sanctions onindividuals behind Khashoggi s death.
The initial US action against the Saudis came three weeks after Khashoggi,self-exiled to suburban Washington, vanished in the consulate and followingcontradictory statements by Trump, who has ruled out major steps such ascutting arms sales to the major defense partner.
Vice President Mike Pence, in an appearance at The Washington Post, whereKhashoggi was a contributing opinion writer, denounced the “brutal murder.”
He added Erdogan s account — the most substantive remarks on the case bythe Turkish leader — “flies in the face” of the Saudis earlier assertions.
Saudi Arabia — whose ambitious crown prince has been amassing power –initially claimed Khashoggi left freely after visiting the consulate, wherehe was completing paperwork for his upcoming marriage.
But as pressure grew, Saudi state media changed the story and saidKhashoggi died when an argument descended into a fistfight, an account thatwas swiftly denounced overseas even if Trump initially said he found itcredible.
Erdogan said that a 15-person team came from Riyadh to kill Khashoggi,carrying out reconnaissance outside Istanbul and deactivating securitycameras at the consulate.
He said 18 suspects detained by Saudi Arabia should be extradited toIstanbul to face trial and called for an investigation into those with”even the slightest link” to the case.
The Turkish leader did not mention some of the most striking claims thatappeared in the Turkish press in recent days, notably that Khashoggi s bodywas cut up into multiple pieces, and that there is an audio recording ofthe murder.
However, he did confirm a Saudi official played the role of body double forKhashoggi, wearing the journalist s clothes upon leaving the consulate topretend to be the dead man.
The whereabouts of Khashoggi s corpse remain unknown. Turkish police weresearching an abandoned car belonging to the Saudi consulate in anunderground car park in the Sultangazi district of Istanbul.
Jana Jabbour, a professor at Sciences Po university in Paris, said the factErdogan did not opt for sharper rhetoric against Riyadh suggested the twonations were talking behind the scenes.
“Erdogan s very moderate speech shows that a deal has been reached,” shetold AFP.
But allies remained alarmed.
The Group of Seven industrial nations said in a joint statement that thekilling left “many questions unanswered.” Denmark also summoned the Saudiambassador over the case.
The murder has shone the spotlight on the Mohammed bin Salman, who wascredited with a reform drive in the kingdom, but is now accused of orderingKhashoggi s killing.
A key investment summit, dubbed “Davos in the desert,” was overshadowed bybig-name cancellations as it kicked off in Riyadh.
Dozens of executives, including from banks Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan andride-hailing app Uber pulled out of the three-day Future InvestmentInitiative.
Saudi organizers sought to portray it was business as usual, announcing 12″mega deals” worth more than $50 billion in oil, gas, infrastructure andother sectors.
But Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih acknowledged “we are going through acrisis.” – APP/AFP