Report: Saudi Crown Prince approved killing
Khashoggi, a U.S. reporter, was killed inside consulate
Mohammed bin Salman approved the brutal assassination of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, according to U.S. intelligence.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia approved the plan for operatives to assassinate journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, according to a previously classified intelligence report released Friday by the Biden administration.
Much of the evidence the CIA used to draw that conclusion remains classified, including recordings of Khashoggi’s killing and dismemberment at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul that were obtained by
Turkish intelligence. But the report does outline who carried out the killing, describe what Crown Prince Mohammed knew about the operation, and lay out how the CIA concluded that he ordered it and bears responsibility for Khashoggi’s death.
The release of the report also signaled that President Joe Biden would not set aside the killing of Khashoggi and that his administration intended to attempt to isolate the crown prince, although it will avoid any measures that would threaten ties to the kingdom. Administration officials said their goal was a recalibration, not a rupture, of the relationship.
The report’s disclosure was the first time the U.S. intelligence community has made its conclusions public, and the declassified document is a powerful rebuke of Crown Prince Mohammed, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia.
“We assess that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey to capture or kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi,” said the report, issued by Biden’s director of national intelligence, Avril D. Haines.
The four-page report contained few previously undisclosed major facts. It reiterated the CIA’S conclusion from fall 2018 that Crown Prince Mohammed ordered the killing of Khashoggi, a Washington
Post columnist and legal permanent resident of Virginia who was critical of the Saudi government. The report was written a year ago after Congress passed a law mandating intelligence agencies’ conclusions be declassified and released.
Crown Prince Mohammed viewed Khashoggi as a threat and “broadly supported using violent measures if necessary to silence him,” the intelligence report concluded.
Ahead of the report’s release, Biden spoke to King Salman of Saudi Arabia. Officials said the purpose of the discussion was for Biden to explain why he was releasing the findings and outline the administration’s next steps.