Saudis admit Khashoggi coverup
Under growing pressure, kingdom again changes account of writer’s death
WASHINGTON— Facing global outrage over the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi officials are now acknowledging that the journalist was targeted inside the kingdom’s consulate in Turkey and a body double was on hand to aid in a coverup — the latest twist in the kingdom’s evolving efforts to explain Khashoggi’s death.
This new version of events — described to The Associated Press by two Saudi officials — comes three weeks after the kingdom said Khashoggi left the consulate on his own and insisted Turkish claims he was killed by an assassination squad were unfounded.
Now Saudi officials say they did in fact send a team to Turkey that included a forensics expert and a member whose job was to dress in the 59-year-old writer’s clothes and pretend to be him — though they still insist that his death was an accident.
This account attempts to distance Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman from the killing, even though officials linked to the 33-year-old ruler have been implicated. But the fact that the Saudis are acknowledging some aspects of the account provided by Turkish authorities suggests that the kingdom is feeling intense global pressure, including from U.S. President Donald Trump and members of Congress, some of whom have called for cutting off arms shipments and imposing sanctions.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the matter and the ongoing investigation. Pro-government media in Turkey have reported a Saudi hit squad of 15 people travelled to Turkey to kill Khashoggi, who wrote columns critical of the crown prince’s rule while living in self-imposed exile in the U.S. The team left the country hours later in private jets, Turkish media reports said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Tuesday for the 18 suspects detained in Saudi Arabia by authorities there to be tried in Turkish courts and rejected the idea that the men acted on their own. “To blame such an incident on a handful of security and intelligence members would not satisfy us or the international community,” Erdogan said in a speech to ruling party lawmakers in Parliament.
Providing several new details, Erdogan described an operation in which Saudi agents removed the hard disk on a consulate camera and one team visited wooded areas in and around Istanbul “for reconnaissance” before the killing. These were areas that Turkish police later focused on as they searched for Khashoggi’s body.
On Tuesday, Trump said Saudi officials had engaged in the “worst coverup ever,” as his administration took its first concrete step to penalize Saudi Arabia, revoking visas for its agents implicated in the killing.
That initial penalty was modest, since 18 of the 21 Saudi suspects were already under arrest, and Trump said he would “leave it up to Congress” to determine further measures.
Trump skewered the Saudis, saying, “They had a very bad original concept. It was carried out poorly, and the coverup was the worst in the history of coverups.” He added, “In terms of what we ultimately do, I’m going to leave it very much — in conjunction with me — I’m going to leave it up to Congress.”