President Donald Trump said he believes missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi is dead and that high-level Saudi officials played a role in the killing.
Oct. 19 (UPI) — As investigators expand their search for missing Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi, President Donald Trump said he thinks the journalist is dead and high-level Saudi officials played a role.
Khashoggi, a U. S. resident and Washington Post columnist, disappeared after visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2 to get documents for his planned marriage. Security camera footage captured his entry, but not his exit, and he’s not been seen since.
In an interview with The New York Times, Trump said Khashoggi is most likely dead and Saudi officials likely involved, but he did not explicitly put the blame on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Whoever is responsible, he said, will be punished.
«It will have to be very severe,» he said. «I mean, it’s bad, bad stuff.»
Turkish investigators have expanded their search to include the Belgrade Forest in Istanbul, hoping to find Khashoggi’s remains. Turkish officials say at least one vehicle that left the consulate is suspected to have gone to the forest, about nine miles away.
Turkish investigators have said they have audio recordings that depict a grisly scene of Khashoggi’s torture, during which interrogators dismembered him.
The killing could have been retaliation for Khashoggi’s writings, which often criticized the Saudi royal family.
«This one has caught the imagination of the world, unfortunately,» Trump told the Times. «It’s not a positive.»
Trump has not yet offered specifics on possible punishment for Saudi Arabia if leaders were found to be responsible. Earlier this week, he shied away from the idea of sanctions against the world’s second largest oil producer and a key U. S. ally against terrorism in the Middle East. Trump’s son-in-law and senior White House adviser Jared Kushner has strong ties to the crown prince.
CNN reported that the National Security Agency intercepted communications that contain Saudi officials discussing a plan to lure Khashoggi from his home in Virginia to Saudi Arabia, where they would detain him. The communications do not include evidence, though, that the crown prince ordered the journalist killed.
Other evidence points to Saudi intelligence officer and former diplomat Mahar Abdulaiziz Mutreb playing an important role in the case. He appears on security camera footage walking into the consulate in Istanbul with other Saudi individuals on the day Khashoggi visited. Other footage also shows him at a hotel and airport.
U. S. officials say the operation could not have happened without the crown prince knowing about it. Mutreb is part of the crown prince’s inner circle and has posed with him in photographs.
Turkish officials also revealed passport scans for seven other Saudis who may have been involved in Khashoggi’s disappearance — including the head of forensic medicine at the Saudi Ministry of the Interior.
Turkish officials searched the home of Saudi consul Mohammad al-Otaibi on Wednesday. Security footage there shows Mutreb and other Saudis visited the day Khashoggi went missing.
Thursday, Trump signed off on Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin ‘s decision to pull out of an investor conference in Riyadh next week. Mnuchin made the decision after meeting with U. S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who just returned from Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
