New public report to blame Saudi crown prince for 2018 killing of Jamal Khashoggi
The Biden administration will release an intelligence report Thursday that concludes that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, three U.S. officials familiar with the matter said.
The intelligence assessment, based largely on work by the
CIA, is not new — NBC News was among the organizations that confirmed it in
2018.
But its public release will mark a significant new chapter
in the U.S.-Saudi relationship and a clear break by President Joe Biden with
former President Donald Trump's policy of equivocating about the Saudi state's
role in a brutal murder that was widely condemned by members of Congress,
journalists and a U.N. investigator.
Reuters first reported on the declassified intelligence
summary scheduled for release Thursday.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters
Wednesday that Biden would communicate with the Saudi king, rather than his son
the crown prince. She said the declassified report was being prepared for
release soon.
The president confirmed to reporters late Wednesday that he
had read the report.
It remains to be seen how releasing the report will affect
U.S.-Saudi relations. Biden officials have been engaging with the Saudis since
they took office, according to the State Department.
Khashoggi, 59, was a Saudi citizen working as a Washington
Post columnist when he was lured to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2,
2018, and killed by a team of intelligence operatives with close ties to the
crown prince. His body was dismembered in part with a bone saw, American
officials have said, and the remains have never been found.
After first denying the murder, the Saudi government changed
course and asserted that Khashoggi was killed by accident as the team sought to
forcibly extradite him. The Saudis say that the team acted on its own and that
the crown prince was not involved.
Eight men were convicted in a trial that international
observers called a farce; five got the death penalty. Their sentences were
commuted to 20 years after they were allegedly forgiven by Khashoggi's
relatives.
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