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

Authored by nytimes.com and submitted by Eurynom0s

The C.I.A. has evidence that Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince, communicated repeatedly with a key aide around the time that a team believed to have been under the aide’s command assassinated Jamal Khashoggi, according to former officials familiar with the intelligence.

The adviser, Saud al-Qahtani, topped the list of Saudis who were targeted by American sanctions last month over their suspected involvement in the killing of Mr. Khashoggi. American intelligence agencies have evidence that Prince Salman and Mr. Qahtani had 11 exchanges that roughly coincided with the hit team’s advance into the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, where Mr. Khashoggi was murdered.

The exchanges are a key piece of information that helped solidify the C.I.A.’s assessment that the crown prince ordered the killing of Mr. Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and Virginia resident who had been critical of the Saudi government.

“This is the smoking gun, or at least the smoking phone call,” said Bruce Riedel, a former C.I.A. official now at the Brookings Institution. “There is only one thing they could possibly be talking about. This shows that the crown prince was witting of premeditated murder.”

pokerstar420 on December 3rd, 2018 at 02:19 UTC »

You have to remember that what Trump feels is true supersedes actual evidence gathered by our intelligence agencies...

lazyassdog on December 3rd, 2018 at 02:15 UTC »

What is amazing is how much information has been released. Its rare for the CIA to state something so directly about an "allied" nations leader. They basically admitted that they can listen in on foreign government talk to their own embassy.

TranquilSeaOtter on December 3rd, 2018 at 02:05 UTC »

And will Trump finally firmly believe the CIA this time? I highly doubt it. Trump's business interests in Saudi Arabia needs to be investigated.