Biden calls Saudi prince’s plot against journalist Khashoggi ‘outrageous’
WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden called it “outrageous” that Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman signed off on the killing of Washington
Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
Biden said in an interview with Univision News that he had told Saudi King Salman this week “that the rules are changing” in the kingdom’s relationship with the U.S. and that “we’re going to be announcing significant changes today and on Monday.”
The Biden administration on Friday released a partially redacted report the Trump administration had withheld from the public revealing that the U.S. intelligence committee believed the crown prince was responsible for Khashoggi’s October 2018 murder inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
“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,” the report concluded.
“We immediately, when I got in, filed the report, read it, got it and released it today,” Biden said. “And it is outrageous what happened.”
The report builds on classified intelligence from the CIA and other agencies after Khashoggi’s murder.
“The government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia completely rejects the negative, false and unacceptable assessment in the report pertaining to the Kingdom’s leadership, and notes that the report contained inaccurate information and conclusions,” the Saudi foreign ministry said in a statement.
The decision to release the report, compiled by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, reflects the Biden administration’s determination to recalibrate relations with Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, over its human rights record.
Prince Mohammed has denied involvement in the killing, while saying he accepts symbolic responsibility as the country’s de facto ruler. Saudi officials have said the murder was carried out by rogue agents who’ve since been prosecuted.
Although the four-page declassified version of the report didn’t disclose any direct evidence or the U.S. intelligence methods that were used in reaching its conclusion, it said the team that killed Khashoggi included seven members of the crown prince’s “elite personal protective detail” who wouldn’t have taken part without his approval.
“The Crown Prince viewed Khashoggi as a threat to the Kingdom and broadly supported using violent measures if necessary to silence him,” the report said. “Although Saudi officials had preplanned an unspecified operation against Khashoggi we do not know how far in advance Saudi officials decided to harm him.”
The report said it had “high confidence” about the 21 people who were involved in the killing on the prince’s behalf.
The Saudi foreign ministry said in its statement that “this was an abhorrent crime and a flagrant violation of the Kingdom’s laws and values” by “a group of individuals that have transgressed all pertinent regulations and authorities of the agencies where they were employed. The relevant authorities in the Kingdom took all possible measures within our legal system to ensure that these individuals were properly investigated, and to ensure that justice was served.”
It said “the partnership between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States of America is a robust and enduring partnership.”
In advance of the report’s publication, Biden held a call Thursday with King Salman. Biden discussed regional security and the renewed U.S. and United Nations effort to end the war in Yemen.