NEW FINDING Saudi crown prince signed off on plan to kill Washington Post journalist in 2018, U.S. intel report says
Report on 2018 murder of Washington Post columnist could test ties between kingdom, Biden administration
WASHINGTON — Saudi Arabia’s crown prince likely approved the killing of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, according to a newly declassified U.S. intelligence report released Friday that ratcheted up pressure on the Biden administration to hold the kingdom accountable for a murder that drew worldwide outrage.
The intelligence findings were long known to many U.S. officials and, even as they remained classified, had been reported with varying degrees of precision. But the public rebuke of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is still a touchstone in U.S-Saudi relations. Yet, even as the Biden administration released the findings, it appeared determined to preserve the Saudi relationship by avoiding direct punishment of the prince himself.
Questioned by reporters, Secretary of State Antony Blinken defended the approach. “What we’ve done by the actions we’ve taken is not to rupture the relationship, but to recalibrate it to be more in line with our interests and our values,” he said. “I think that we have to understand as well that this is bigger than any one person.”
The conclusion that the prince approved an operation to kill or capture the Washington Post columnist was based on his decision-making role inside the kingdom, the involvement of a key adviser and members of his protective detail and his past support for violently silencing dissidents abroad, according to the report from the
Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
Though intelligence officials stopped short of saying the prince ordered the October 2018 murder, the four-page document described him as having “absolute control” over the kingdom’s intelligence organizations and said it would have been highly unlikely for an operation like the killing to have been carried out without his approval. Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry said the kingdom “categorically rejects the offensive and incorrect assessment in the report pertaining to the kingdom’s leadership.”
The State Department said a new policy, called the “Khashoggi Ban,” will allow the U.S. to deny visas to people who harm, threaten or spy on journalists on behalf of a foreign government. It also imposed visa restrictions on 76 Saudi individuals who have engaged or threatened dissidents overseas.