Intercepts Solidify C.I.A. Assessment That Saudi Prince Ordered Khashoggi Killing

The White House and Mr. Trump have shown little willingness to shift from their policy of continued support for Saudi Arabia and Prince Mohammed. Privately, even some Republicans on Capitol Hill who believe that Prince Mohammed ordered the killing have said they support the administration’s decision not to impose significant costs on Saudi Arabia, arguing that the kingdom’s support is needed to confront threats from Iran.

“Will the White House give up the cover-up of the cover-up? I don’t see any sign they are willing to change their tune,” Mr. Riedel said. “But this will certainly increase the pressure to get Gina Haspel to testify on the Hill.”

Members of Congress were unhappy that Ms. Haspel did not brief the Senate last week in a closed session alongside Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Administration officials had said Ms. Haspel could testify to Congress early next year, but congressional officials said they wanted Ms. Haspel to appear before Intelligence Committee members as soon as this week.

Senior C.I.A. officials have briefed leaders of the committees, but Ms. Haspel herself has not. The nature of the intercepts, whether they are from calls or text messages, is highly sensitive information, and the C.I.A. may be reluctant to share all of what it has collected, or how it did so.

It is not clear if the C.I.A. has the content of the communications between the two men. It is possible that American intelligence agencies know the substance of the communications, but it is also possible that they have collected only so-called metadata about them.

A number of other important questions remain unresolved. One is precisely what Mr. Qahtani was communicating to the crown prince in the 11 exchanges — the two men could have been in constant communication most days, not just at the time that Mr. Khashoggi was killed.