US report: Saudi prince OK’d killing
Journalist critical of the kingdom was dismembered in ’18
WASHINGTON — 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, unlike his predecessor, 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 and a close ally of the Trump administration, whose continued support of
him after Khashoggi’s killing prompted international outrage.
“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 Haines.
The four-page report contained few previously undisclosed major facts. It reiterated the CIA’s conclusion from the fall of 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, which had been briefed on the underlying findings, passed a law mandating intelligence agencies’ conclusions be declassified and released.
But the declassified report still has the power to shock given the brutality of the assassination. Saudi officials lured Khashoggi to the consulate, where they killed him and were said to use a bone saw to dismember his
body.
Crown Prince Mohammed viewed Khashoggi as a threat and “broadly supported using violent measures if necessary to silence him,” the intelligence report concluded. U.S. intelligence agencies learned that Saudi officials had planned an unspecified operation against Khashoggi, but the report said the United States has not learned when Saudi officials decided to harm him.
No single piece of evidence outlined in the report points to Crown Prince Mohammed’s
guilt. Instead, intelligence officials have long said, smaller pieces of evidence, combined with the CIA’s understanding of the prince’s control of the kingdom, led them to a high confidence conclusion of his culpability.
According to the report, Crown Prince Mohammed “fostered an environment” in which his aides feared that any failure to follow his orders could result in their arrest. “This suggests that the aides were unlikely to question Mohammed bin Salman’s orders or undertake sensitive actions without his consent,” the report said.
In addition to outlining Crown Prince Mohammed’s culpability, the report lists 21 others involved in the killing of Khashoggi.
They included members of a hit team that had flown from Saudi Arabia to Turkey, where they killed and dismembered him Oct. 2, 2018, after Saudi officials lured Khashoggi, who was seeking paperwork to marry his Turkish fiancee, into the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul. His body was never found.
The hit team worked for the Saudi Center for Studies and Media Affairs, at the time led by Saud al-Qahtani, a close adviser of the crown prince. The report noted that al-Qahtani had said publicly that he did not make decisions without Crown Prince Mohammed’s approval.
Even before the hit team — called the Saudi Rapid Intervention Force in the report — killed Khashoggi, Crown Prince Mohammed authorized a secret campaign to silence dissenters.
Seven members of that unit were on the 15-person team sent after Khashoggi in Istanbul, according to the report. The involvement of the unit was a key piece of evidence implicating Crown Prince Mohammed, the report said.
The unit, according to the report, “exists to defend the crown prince, answers only to him, and had directly participated in earlier dissident suppression operations” at the direction of Crown Prince Mohammed. “We judge that members of the RIF would not have participated in the operation against Khashoggi without Muhammad bin Salman’s approval,” the report said.
Maren Morris and Chris Stapleton are the leading nominees for the Academy of Country Music Awards, but only Stapleton joined the all-male ballot for the top prize of entertainer of the year.
The academy announced Friday that Morris and Stapleton both had six nominations ahead of the April 18 awards show airing on CBS.
Women were left out of the top category as Thomas Rhett, Luke
Bryan, Eric Church and Luke Combs were also nominated for entertainer of the year. Miranda Lambert, who is already the most nominated artist in ACM history, stretched her streak with five nominations.
While women are absent from entertainer of the year, all five nominees for the single of the year are performed by women, a first for the ACM Awards.
Four Black artists — Kane Brown, Jimmie
Allen, Mickey Guyton and John Legend — are also nominated this year across all categories, another first for the ACM Awards.
Tyson slams Hulu series:
Hulu announced it has ordered a limited series dramatizing the life of boxing great Mike Tyson, who quickly slammed the production as “cultural misappropriation.”
Hulu said Thursday that “Iron Mike” will explore “the wild, tragic and controversial life and career” of a polarizing athlete. Tyson, who is not involved in the project, criticized Hulu on social media, saying the series smacked of insensitivity.
Prince Harry says he didn’t walk away:
Prince Harry rapped the theme song to the 1990s sitcom “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” during a latenight talk show appearance in which he said he didn’t walk away from his royal duties.
During a segment on CBS’ “The Late, Late Show with James Corden” that aired early Friday, Harry said he decided to step away from his work as a front-line member of the royal family to protect his wife and son — and his mental health.
“It was stepping back rather than stepping down,” he told Corden.
“It was a really difficult environment, which I think a lot of people saw, so I did what any father or husband would do and thought, ‘How do I get my family out of here?’ But we never walked away, and as far as I’m concerned, whatever decisions are made on that side, I will never walk away.”
The prince also offered a glimpse of the family’s life in California, where he and wife Meghan generally watch “Jeopardy!” and Netflix programs before going to bed. Son Archie’s first word was “crocodile,” Harry said.
British actor Pickup dies: Ronald Pickup, the renowned British stage actor who starred in
“The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” and “Darkest Hour,” has died. Pickup, 80, died Wednesday after a long illness surrounded by his wife and family, his agent confirmed. The actor accrued more than 150 TV and film appearances during his five-plusdecade career.
Feb. 27 birthdays: Actor Joanne Woodward is 91. Actor Barbara Babcock is
84. Guitarist Neal Schon is 67. Singer Johnny Van Zant is 61. Actor Grant Show is 59. Actor Donal Logue is 55. Singer Chilli is 50. Singer Bobby V is
41. Singer Josh Groban is
40. Actor Kate Mara is 38. Reality show star Jenni “JWoww” Farley is 35.