Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammad bin Salman arrives to meet Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May in Downing Street in London, March 7, 2018.
The CIA has a recording of a phone call in which Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman gave instructions to "silence Jamal Kashoggi as soon as possible," Turkish news website Hurriyet Daily News said on Thursday.
It cited a prominent Turkish columnist as saying CIA director Gina Haspel had "signaled" the existence of the recording during a visit to Ankara last month.
Listen: Why Netanyahu wants truce in Gaza and to delay elections as much as possible
A Turkish official contacted by Reuters said he had no information about such a recording. "There is talk of another recording," Hurriyet newspaper journalist Abdulkadir Selvi wrote in a column, saying the purported call took place between Prince Mohammed and his brother, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Washington.
Read more: Denmark Suspends Weapons Deals With Saudi Arabia as Arms Boycott Movement Gains Steam
"It is being said that CIA chief Gina Haspel indicated this during her visit to Turkey," he wrote, adding that they had discussed Khashoggi, a critic of the kingdom's de facto ruler.
"It is being said the crown prince gave orders to 'silence Jamal Khashoggi as soon as possible'," in a call which was monitored by the U.S. agency, he said.
A day earlier, Turkish news site Haberturk released what it said was quotes from a tape of the Saudi dissident journalist's last moments.
Also Thursday, Federica Mogherini, the European Union's foreign affairs chief, said after talks with Turkey's foreign minister that a transparent and credible investigation into the killing of Khashoggi has not yet been completed.
Khashoggi, a critic of the kingdom's de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. Riyadh has said it was seeking the death penalty for five suspects in the case.
Keep updated: Sign up to our newsletter Email * Please enter a valid email address Sign up Please wait… Thank you for signing up. We've got more newsletters we think you'll find interesting. Click here Oops. Something went wrong. Please try again later. Try again Thank you, The email address you have provided is already registered. Close
Speaking at a joint news conference with EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Ankara, Mogherini said she was completely against any application of the death penalty.
AMaskedAvenger on November 22nd, 2018 at 13:23 UTC »
“Maybe the tape’s authentic, and maybe it isn’t. They released a fake tape of me before the election, which I won in a landslide by the way.” —Trump, in a couple days
FakeNewsLiveUpdate on November 22nd, 2018 at 11:18 UTC »
The message Trump is once again sending to the intelligence community is clear - all the hard work they have done to gather information means nothing, because the President will just cast doubts then dismiss it. If Haspel wants to be a leader, she needs to speak up in support of the work her people are doing.
TheNevers on November 22nd, 2018 at 10:57 UTC »
At this point I doubt it’ll make any difference even if MBS himself comes out and state he chops Khas himself.