The Biden administration will release an intelligence report on Thursday that concludes that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman authorized the assassination of 2018 journalist Jamal Khashoggi, three US officials are aware of.
The CIA’s mostly work-based intelligence assessment is not new – NBC News was among the organizations that confirmed it in 2018. But its public presentation will mark an important new chapter in US-Saudi relations and a clear break by the president. Biden’s policy of endorsing the role of the Saudi state in the brutal assassination of former President Donald Trump has been widely criticized by members of Congress, journalists and UN investigators.
Reuters released the first report on the Disclosed Intelligence Summary to be released on Thursday.
White House spokeswoman Jane Sasaki told reporters Wednesday that Biden would hold talks with the Saudi king instead of his son, the Crown Prince. He said the announcement report is being prepared for release soon.
It remains to be seen how this release will affect US-Saudi relations. According to the State Department, Biden officials have been associated with the Saudis since they took office.
Sh, Khashoggi of the year was a Saudi citizen working as a Washington Post facilitator when he was lured to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018 and was assassinated by a team of intelligence officers with close ties to the Crown Prince. U.S. officials say part of his body was dismembered, and the remains were never found.
After denying the first murder, the Saudi government changed course, saying the journalist was killed accidentally as the team tried to forcibly extradite him. The Saudis say the team acted on its own and the Crown Prince was not involved.
Eight men were convicted in a trial that international observers called a farce, and five were sentenced to death. His sentences were handed down 20 years after he was allegedly pardoned by Khashogi’s relatives.
Agnes Clamarde, a United Nations investigator into the killings, accused Saudi Arabia of “deliberate, premeditated execution, a judicial murder for which the Saudi state is responsible under international human rights law.”
The CIA released the White House with its assessment in 2018, but that doesn’t change Trump’s friendly relations with Saudi Arabia, and especially with Salman.
In a recorded interview with reporter Bob Woodward, Trump laughed in 2019 that he had saved Bin Salman from congressional scrutiny.
“I saved his ass,” Trump said. “I was able to get Congress to leave them alone. I was able to stop them.”
“Do you think he did it?” Woodward asked.
“No, he says he didn’t do it,” Trump replied.
During the 2020 election campaign, Biden assured the Saudis of “paying the price, and in fact making it a pariah.”
Biden has ended American support for the Saudi war in Yemen, but has not moved to reduce military aid to the Middle East’s key ally and counterterrorism partner.
“The president’s intention, as the government intends, is to improve our engagement with Saudi Arabia,” Pasaki said Wednesday.
