Donald Trump has just put the world on notice that his administration will not be taking any strong action against Saudia Arabia or their Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post journalist.
On Thursday, Trump said that “our intelligence agencies continue to assess all information, but it could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event — maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!”
He continued, “That being said, we may never know all of the facts surrounding the murder of Mr. Jamal Khashoggi. In any case, our relationship is with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. They have been a great ally in our very important fight against Iran.”
While he might not know whether the prince did or not, sources say that the CIA thinks he is responsible for the murder. Not only do they believe he is responsible, they believe with high confidence that the actual murder was “conducted by members of the prince’s inner circle.”
So what actually happened? We know that the journalist was seized at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey on Oct. 2, while he was in a unit that deals with visas and other routine paperwork. He was trying to get paperwork done so he could get married. Little else has been reported… Well, up until now. Some tapes have emerge that might give us a clue.
A Turkish newspaper reports, that there is a tape where Khashoggi can be heard screaming. Below the screams, you can hear his attackers calling him a traitor. Khashoggi has been a critic of the Saudi government. The tape also reportedly captures him saying, “Release my arm! What do you think you are doing?”
Then towards the end of the recording you hear a male’s voice say, “It is spooky to wear the clothes of a man whom we killed 20 minutes ago.”
The recordings have been given to intelligence officials in the U.S. and Canada as well as several European nations. Trump said U.S. intelligence officers have listened to them, but he has not.
