US revokes visas following ‘world’s worst coverup’
US President Donald Trump has described the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi as a botched operation and a “bad original concept” as his Administration took its first, careful steps toward punishing the Saudis by moving to revoke the visas of the suspects.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said the entire operation was a fiasco.
“They had a very bad original concept,” Trump said. “It was carried out poorly, and the coverup was one of the worst coverups in the history of coverups. Somebody really messed up, and they had the worst coverup ever.” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, meanwhile, has said Saudi Arabia must identify those who ordered Khashoggi’s murder and turn over the suspects for trial.
Erdogan, addressing ruling party lawmakers in Parliament on Tuesday night, used the word “murder” 15 times to describe Khashoggi’s death. Khasoggi, who lived in self-imposed exile in the United States and wrote critically about Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed after entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 2 for paperwork related to his marriage plans.
Erdogan delivered a sharp rebuttal of Saudi Arabia’s widely criticised account that Khashoggi died accidentally in a brawl, saying Saudi officials had planned the killing for days.
Some analysts believe Turkey is calculating whether it can capitalise on outrage over the killing to extract political capital from the world’s largest oil exporter.
CIA Director Gina Haspel, who is in Turkey to investigate the Khashoggi’s death, has reportedly sought to hear a purported audio recording of Khashoggi’s torture and murder that Turkish authorities have.
Even in the face of ugly details of Khashoggi’s slaying — he was reportedly tortured and then dismembered — Trump has resisted calls to stop arms sales to the kingdom and has been reluctant to antagonise the Saudi rulers. Trump considers the Saudis to be vital allies in his Mideast agenda.
Members of Congress have demanded that sanctions be imposed on Saudi Arabia over the killing.
Turkish officials say that a Saudi team of 15 men carried out the torture and killing. Saudi officials — after weeks of denials — now concede that he died, but they say it happened accidentally in a fight at the consulate.
Saudi Arabia has detained 18 people and dismissed five senior government officials as part of its investigation into Khashoggi’s death. One of those fired is Saud al-Qahtani, a top aide who ran social media for the crown prince. Intelligence sources said Qahtani ran Khashoggi’s killing by giving orders over Skype, Reuters reported.
A Saudi Cabinet meeting chaired by King Salman said Riyadh would hold to account those responsible for the killing and those who failed in their duties, whoever they were.
“It was a total fiasco,” Trump said. “The process was no good. The execution was no good. And the coverup, if you want to call it that, was certainly no good.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the move to revoke visas was just a first step.
Visa records are confidential and Pompeo was not more specific about who the revocations would affect, but the State Department later said 21 “Saudi suspects” would have visas revoked or would be declared ineligible to enter the US.
“These penalties will not be the last word on this matter,” Pompeo told reporters at the State Department.
The Administration “will continue to hold those responsible accountable”. “We’re making very clear that the United States does not tolerate this kind of ruthless action to silence Mr Khashoggi, a journalist, with violence,” he said.
“Neither the president or I am happy with this situation.”
Still, Pompeo stressed the strategic importance of the US-Saudi relationship.
“We continue to view as achievable the twin imperative of protecting America and holding accountable those responsible for the killing of Mr Khashoggi,” Pompeo said.