A major Turkish newspaper says the CIA has in its possession a recording in which Saudi Arabia’s crown prince can be heard ordering the “silence” of Jamal Khashoggi (photo.)
Khashoggi is the Washington Post journalist who lived in the U.S. but was horrifically assassinated in the Saudi embassy in Turkey. He was seeking papers to marry his fiancée.
“The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is in possession of a phone call recording of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in which he is heard giving an instruction to ‘silence Jamal Khashoggi as soon as possible,’ Hürriyet columnist Abdulkadir Selvi wrote on Nov. 22.,” according to a report in Mediaite.
Hurriyet is a newspaper in Turkey. It has the largest circulation in the country.
“According to Selvi, CIA Director Gina Haspel ‘signaled’ during her trip to Ankara last month the existence of the wiretapped phone call between Crown Prince Mohammed and his brother Khaled bin Salman, who is Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States.”
Earlier this week the CIA had concluded, based on evidence an its investigation, that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had ordered the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi.
President Trump days later overruled the CIA, in a full-page rambling official statement posted to the White House website.
“King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman vigorously deny any knowledge of the planning or execution of the murder of Mr. Khashoggi,” Trump wrote. “Our intelligence agencies continue to assess all information, but it could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event – maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!” the President of the United States declared.
Image by April Brady/Project on Middle East Democracy via Flickr and a CC license