White House won’t send report to Congress on slain journalist

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration was set to ignore a Friday deadline for giving the Senate a full accounting of the role of Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in the brutal slaying of U.S.-based Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi four months ago.

The administration, which has consistently sought to shield Saudi rulers from blame, had until midnight Friday to answer senators’ questions about whether Prince Mohammed ordered the killing, as U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded, and what additional sanctions should be placed on the government in Riyadh.

The deadline was set by Democratic and Republican senators, who wrote the president on Oct. 10 — slightly more than a week after Khashoggi’s disappearance — calling for an investigation.

Senators said Trump was obliged by law to answer within 120 days. Administration officials contended, however, that the law was not binding and that the president could ignore the senators’ demands.

A top Saudi official, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel Al-Jubeir, on Friday insisted the crown prince had no role in Khashoggi’s slaying, saying the trial of the suspects and the ongoing investigation would show it was a “rogue operation” with no official backing.

The New York Times reported Thursday that U.S. intelligence agencies intercepted a 2017 conversation in which Mohamed told a top aide that he would use “a bullet” on Khashoggi, a regime critic, if he did not return home to Saudi Arabia.