Manama: US President Donald Trump has said he had spoken with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) chief on the agency's assessment of the killing of Jamal Khashoggi and that there will be a "very full report" by Tuesday, amid reports that the CIA had held powerful the Saudi crown prince responsible for the murder of the dissident journalist.
In an interaction with reporters in California on Saturday, Trump said that he spoke with CIA Director Gina Haspel, who has been studying this case very closely.
"It’s a horrible thing that took place, the killing of a journalist.It should never have happened," Trump said.
Asked about reports that the CIA had assessed involvement by the crown prince, the president said, "they haven't assessed anything yet. It's too early. That was a very a premature report".
"We'll be having a very full report over the next two days, probably Monday or Tuesday," Trump said.
He then said more definitely that there would be "a report on Tuesday."
The report will address what "we think the overall impact was and who caused it, and who did it."
"In the meantime we’re doing things to some people that we know for a fact were involved and we’re being very tough on a lot of people," he added.
Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the US Prince Khalid Bin Salman has dismissed reports that he told slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi on the phone that he should go to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to retrieve documents and that he gave him assurances it would be safe to do so.
The Washington Post reported the phone call was intercepted and used by the CIA, among other sources, to reach the conclusion that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, Prince Khalid’s brother, ordered Khashoggi’s assassination. The Washington Post cited “people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the intelligence.”
This came as UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dr Anwar Gargash slammed attempts to destabilise Saudi Arabia. “The new attempt to target Saudi Arabia and its leadership will not be successful, and it is important that Riyadh continues its transparent legal handling of the Khashoggi issue. The reputation and stability of Saudi Arabia is important to us, and also for the security of the region and its future.”
Prince Khalid denied the allegations about him, insisted he never called Khashoggi and that his last contact with him was one year ago, and challenged the daily to check the record of probable phone conversations with Khashoggi.
“As we told the Washington Post the last contact I had with Mr. Khashoggi was via text on Oct 26, 2017. I never talked to him by phone and certainly never suggested he go to Turkey for any reason. I ask the US government to release any information regarding this claim,” Prince Khalid posted on his Twitter account.
“Unfortunately the Washington Post did not print our full response. This is a serious accusation and should not be left to anonymous sources.”
The ambassador posted the full response given by Fatimah Baeshen, a spokesperson for the Saudi embassy in Washington, to the US newspaper following the publication of its report.
“The Ambassador met Jamal once in late September 2017 in person for a cordial discussion and they communicated via text after the meeting.
The last message sent by the Ambassador to him was on October 26, 2017. At no time did Prince Khalid discuss with Jamal anything related to going to Turkey. Ambassador Prince Khalid Bin Salman has never had any phone conversation with him.
You are welcome to check the phone records and the cell phone content to corroborate this – in which case you will have to request it from the Turkish authorities as our public prosecutor has done several times, but to no avail.
The claims in this purported assessment are false. We have [heard] and continue to hear various theories without seeing the primary basis for these speculations.”
The mystery about Khashoggi’s life in the months before his brutal death on October 2 at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, where he was reportedly seeking documents to marry a Turkish woman who said she was his fiancée, has deepened after an Egyptian woman said she was his legitimate wife and that they got married in June in the suburbs of Washington DC.
The woman said in an interview with The Washington Post that she was revealing her relationship with Khashoggi because “as a Muslim wife, I want my full right and to be recognised”.
As Khashoggi’s legitimate wife, Atr, if she successfully supports her claim, could be in a position to claim blood money which could be a part of any compensation that his family collects from the Saudi government.
The woman, an Egyptian in her 50s who is identified as H. Atr to conceal her full identity amid security and professional concerns, provided The Washington Post with text messages that she and Khashoggi exchanged and photos of them together, including some from their wedding ceremony.
A long-time associate of Khashoggi, who was a witness at the ceremony confirmed, Atr’s account. He spoke on the condition of anonymity because of safety concerns.
Anwar Hajjaj, the imam who presided over the ceremony, apparently did not respond to requests for comment. He is listed online as a professor of Islamic Studies and Education at American Open University in Virginia.
Hatice Cengiz, Khashoggi’s Turkish fiancée told The Post in a telephone interview that she was not aware of his relationship with Atr and questioned her motives.
“Jamal never told me about this woman,” Cengiz said. “Why is she trying to change the picture people have of Jamal? What does she want? . . . I suspect this is an attempt to discredit him and hurt his reputation.”
Atr said she has provided photos and other evidence of her marriage to Saudi and Turkish officials at a consulate in the Middle East.
Some of those photos surfaced online this week in several posts to a Twitter account supportive of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman.
Atr lives in the Arabian Gulf and reportedly spent time with Khashoggi mainly when business travel took her to the United States.
The two met nearly a decade ago at a media forum in the Middle East, but their romantic relationship began over the past year, she said.
She added that she saw him for the last time in early September, and that while he sometimes expressed concern that the Saudi government might retaliate against him, he did not believe his life was in danger.
“He never thought they would assassinate him,” she said. “He knew they could kidnap him and beat him, but he never thought they would go as far as to kill him.”
- With inputs from agencies
