Prince had ‘a bullet’ in mind for Khashoggi

Support for CIA finding in journalist’s murder

WASHINGTON— Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia told a top aide in a conversation in 2017 that he would use “a bullet” on Jamal Khashoggi, the journalist killed in October, if Khashoggi did not return to the kingdom and end his criticism of the Saudi government, according to current and former U.S. and foreign officials with direct knowledge of intelligence reports.

The conversation, intercepted by U.S. intelligence agencies, is the most detailed evidence to date that the crown prince considered killing Khashoggi long before a team of Saudi operatives strangled him inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul and dismembered his body using a bone saw. Khashoggi’s killing prompted weeks of outrage around the world and among both parties in Washington, where senior lawmakers called for an investigation into who was responsible.

The Saudi government has denied that the young crown prince played any role in the killing, and U.S. President Donald Trump has publicly shown little interest in trying get the facts about who was responsible. Crown Prince Mohammed, the next in line to the Saudi throne behind his ailing father, King Salman, has become the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia and a close ally of the Trump White House — especially Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser.

The conversation appears to have been recently transcribed and analyzed as part of an effort by intelligence agencies to find proof of who was responsible for Khashoggi’s death. The National Security Agency and other U.S. spy agencies are sifting through years of the crown prince’s voice and text communications that the NSA routinely intercepted and stored

The NSA has circulated intelligence reports to other spy agencies, the White House and close foreign allies about the crown prince’s communications. The reports were described by several current and former officials. Weeks after the killing, the CIA finished its first assessment about the operation, concluding that Crown Prince Mohammed had ordered it.

The conversation between Crown Prince Mohammed and the aide, Turki Aldakhil, took place in September 2017, as officials in the kingdom were growing increasingly alarmed about Khashoggi’s criticisms.