Saudi foreign minister says CIA assessment on Khashoggi murder is false

[webfact]

Saudi foreign minister says CIA assessment on Khashoggi murder is false

 

FILE PHOTO: Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir speaks during the second day of the 14th Manama dialogue, Security Summit in Manama, Bahrain October 27, 2018. REUTERS/Hamad l Mohammed

 

CAIRO (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said on Tuesday that claims, including by the CIA, that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman gave the order to kill journalist Jamal Khashoggi were false, according to an Arabic-language newspaper interview.

 

News outlets, including Reuters, reported the CIA's finding over the weekend in a case that has sparked an international outcry against the world's top oil exporter. This was the most definitive U.S. assessment to date tying Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler directly to the killing and contradicted Saudi government assertions that he was not involved.

 

"We in the kingdom know that such allegations about the crown prince have no basis in truth and we categorically reject them, whether through leaks or not," Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir was quoted as saying in Saudi-owned Al Sharq Al Awsat newspaper in the first Saudi official comment on the CIA report.

 

"They are leaks that have not been officially announced, and I have noticed that they are based on an assessment, not conclusive evidence," he added.

 

A source familiar with the CIA's assessment said it was based largely on circumstantial evidence relating to the prince's central role in running the Saudi government.

 

Jubeir was also asked about comments by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan that the kill order came from the highest level of the Saudi leadership but probably not King Salman, which has put the spotlight instead on the 33-year-old crown prince.

 

"We have already asked the Turkish authorities at the highest level about the meaning of these comments, and they confirmed to us categorically that the crown prince is not meant by these comments," he said.

 

"The leadership of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, represented by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques (the king) and the crown prince, is a red line, and we will not permit attempts to harm or undermine them," he added.

 

Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor and one-time royal insider who had been critical of the crown prince recently, was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.

 

Last week, after offering numerous contradictory explanations for Khashoggi’s disappearance, Riyadh said he had been killed and his body dismembered when “negotiations” to convince him to return to Saudi Arabia failed.

 

(Reporting by Mohammed El Sherif; Writing by Stephen Kalin; Editing by Sandra Maler and Cynthia Osterman)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-11-20

[TopDeadSenter]

Time to leak the tapes and let the world make their own conclusions. For me, the died in a fistfight excuse, only to walk that back and continue with other equally lame excuses was an absolute confirmation that MbS was the one that ordered it. A nation does not forever discredit itself unless there is a very good reason for it.

[keith101]

Just more BS from the Saudis 

[nev]

Watched a very good video yesterday going over the whole plot and showing and naming all involved and what parts they played, There is no denying this was all pre planned.

[KKr]

Why false? Because I say so.

[natway09]

Red Line.......... ?  Living in the dark ages

[Tchooptip]

What else would you want him to say? He did not want to be cut off his head 

[Dumbastheycome]

Maybe not  false  but  too close to the truth.

Lets  face  it. Their  number  one  allies  have  given them  numerous examples of how  to play the  nasty game!

[Tug]

I call B.S.but what intereste me are the Turks going to use this to leverage that guy they want here in the USA I’m sure Donald would deliver him if he thinks he can get away with it and it would get the Turks to quiet down

[Mad mick]

Saudi ki _ _dom low life deceitful murderous so called monarchy , i agree with trump if yanks dont sell their weapons to scum sa_ di the rusky or chins will 

[Mad mick]

oh well at least see know who runs america 

[sirineou]

21 hours ago, webfact said:

Saudi foreign minister says CIA assessment on Khashoggi murder is false

No sh*# , what do you expect him to say  "Oh well you got as"?

[Stargeezr]

So if not the son then maybe the father. Check the dens to find out where the

trophy head is at.

Geezer

[Srikcir]

This is getting really dirty now.

Jared Kushner Gave Saudi Crown Prince Advice After Khashoggi Slaying

Kushner “offered the crown prince advice about how to weather the storm” following the journalist’s death, the Times said, citing a Saudi source. Kushner also reportedly became the prince’s “most important defender inside the White House”

White House protocol dictates that National Security Council staff should be present on all phone calls with foreign leaders. Yet, according to the Times, Kushner defied this rule and “kept chatting” privately to the prince.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jared-kushner-saudi-crown-prince-khashoggi_us_5c0cff3ae4b035a7bf5bf7ab

[neeray]

Even when the truth is so obvious, world leaders including kings and presidents use the same ridiculous defence tactics as low life drug addicts and street criminals when caught red handed. Deny, deny, deny.

[Prissana Pescud]

Hey, Mr Trump said there is no proof so the Saudis are correct. It is all fake news.

Come on, you have to give the Saudis the benefit of doubt, this is what proof of law is all about.

And the economy of America will be so much better off.

And journalists that dare to go against a duly elected leader like Trump need to be silenced. 

And life is so much better under Mr Trump and the Saudi way of life.

Hey, the Saudis even let women drive a car now.

So come on, give true democracy a break and stop defending journalists.