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Intercepts solidify CIA assessment that Saudi Prince ordered Khashoggi killing

The adviser, Saud al-Qahtani, topped the list of Saudis who were targeted by U.S. sanctions last month over their suspected involvement in the killing of Khashoggi.

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The adviser, Saud al-Qahtani, topped the list of Saudis who were targeted by U.S. sanctions last month over their suspected involvement in the killing of Khashoggi. U.S. intelligence agencies have evidence that Prince Mohammed and al-Qahtani had 11 exchanges that roughly coincided with the hit team’s advance into the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, where Khashoggi was murdered.

The exchanges are a key piece of information that helped solidify the CIA’s assessment that the crown prince ordered the killing of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and Virginia resident who had been critical of the Saudi government.

“This is the smoking gun, or at least the smoking phone call,” said Bruce Riedel, a former CIA official now at the Brookings Institution. “There is only one thing they could possibly be talking about. This shows that the crown prince was witting of premeditated murder.”

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The existence of the intercepts was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, which reviewed a highly classified document on the CIA assessment of Khashoggi’s killing. The leak of the secret report, according to officials, infuriated Gina Haspel, the CIA director. It has also intensified calls by members of Congress to have Haspel go to Capitol Hill to brief them.

Al-Qahtani has been one of Prince Mohammed’s closest advisers. When the head of the hit team, Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, was recorded by Turkish intelligence saying “tell your boss” that the team had carried out the mission, he was believed by U.S. intelligence agencies to have been communicating with al-Qahtani.

People briefed on the intelligence said they believed that the 11 exchanges between Prince Mohammed and al-Qahtani could have been the time when the aide shared the news.

Current and former officials insisted that while the communications are suggestive and reinforce the intelligence agency’s conclusions about the culpability of the crown prince, they are not the kind of definitive, direct evidence that President Donald Trump has suggested would be needed to convince him that Prince Mohammed ordered the killing.

The New York Times

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Julian E. Barnes and Eric Schmitt © 2018 The New York Times

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