According to a Turkish Website the CIA has audio recordings linking Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Jamal Khashoggi’s murder.
The CIA has a recording of a phonecall in which Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman gave instructions to “silence Jamal Khashoggi as soon as possible”, a Turkish news website has reported.
Gina Haspel, CIA director, is said to have revealed the existence of a wiretapped call between Prince Mohammed and his brother Khaled bin Salman, who is Saudi’s ambassador to the US, to Turkish officials during a visit to Ankara last month, according to Hurriyet.
“It is said that the crown prince gave an instruction to silence JamalKhashoggi as soon as possible and this instruction was captured during the CIA wiretapping,†Hurriyet columnist Abdulkadir Selvi wrote on Thursday. “The subsequent murder is the ultimate confirmation of this instruction.â€
The brothers are reportedly heard talking about the “discomfort” caused by the Washington Post columnist’s criticism of the kingdom’s administration.
A Turkish official contacted by Reuters said he had no information about such a recording.
Khashoggi, a prominent critic of Prince Mohammed, was killed on Oct. 2 inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.
If confirmed, the wiretap could call into question Washington’s official claim that they have found no evidence to support accusations the murder was ordered by the prince, Riyadh’s de-facto leader, himself.
The interesting thing about this is who is covering it. Turkey is known to crackdown on freedom of the press. Although there are no laws censoring speech many of the news outlets are controlled by people with close ties to Turkish President Erdogan. Erdogan is no ally of the US nor Saudi Arabia so it would be in the best interest of the Turkish government to conitunte to push an anti-Trump administration narrative regarding Saudi Arabia.
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