Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is parroting President Donald Trump’s message in the case of the missing – and likely murdered – Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
On Monday President Donald Trump, realizing the apparent murder of Khashoggi was something he could no longer ignore, he announced he was sending Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on a fact-finding mission to Saudi Arabia.
It is now clear that was not the actual goal of Pompeo’s visit.
Overnight, after meeting with Saudi King Salman, Secretary Pompeo was asked by reporters if the Saudis had told him if “Khashoggi is alive or dead.” The Secretary refused to answer.
“I don’t want to talk about any of the facts,” Pompeo told reporters as he headed to Turkey, according to the State Department’s official transcript. “They didn’t want to either, in that they want to have the opportunity to complete this investigation in a thorough way.”
Here’s video. Pompeo’s remarks about facts start at the 43 second mark:
The prevailing narrative right now is that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered Khashoggi’s murder. Four people tied to the Crown Prince have been ID’d as suspects by Turkey.
And Turkey has now shared audio of Khashoggi’s murder with Saudi and U.S. officials. It is gruesome.
But it now seems clear Pompeo wasn’t dispatched Saudi Arabia to get to the bottom of what happened to the Washington Post journalist, a U.S. permanent resident, who has been missing since October 2. Instead, it seems clear he was ordered to meet with King Salman to concoct a cover story for the royal family.
Of note, Pompeo met with the King and with his foreign minister, Crown Prince Adel al-Jubeir – but not with Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), who just happens to be a friend of White House Senior Advisor and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner. If getting to the bottom of what happened were Pompeo’s actual goal, why wouldn’t he meet with the man Turkish officials say ordered the torture and execution?
Many are pointing to the above photo and video below as proof Pompeo’s mission was to help the Saudi royal family cover up what appears to be the murder of Jamal Khashoggi – not to get to the actual facts.
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Image: U.S. Department of State/ Wikimedia