“We assess that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey to capture or kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi,” the report’s executive summary states.
“We base this assessment on the Crown Prince’s control of decision-making in the Kingdom, the direct involvement of a key adviser and members of Muhammad bin Salman’s protective detail in the operation, and the Crown Prince’s support for using violent measures to silence dissidents abroad, including Khashoggi,” the report says.
The Biden administration provided the long-awaited declassified intelligence report to Congress ahead of its public release on Friday.
With the report’s release — long demanded by Democrats in Congress — Biden may face pressure to take further action against the kingdom or the crown prince himself.
The report notes bin Salman’s “absolute control” of Saudi intelligence and security operations.
“Since 2017, the Crown Prince has had absolute control of the Kingdom’s security and intelligence organizations, making it highly unlikely that Saudi officials would have carried out an operation of this nature without the Crown Prince’s authorization,” the report says.
It says that the 15-person Saudi team that arrived in Istanbul in October 2018 when Khashoggi was killed included members associated with the Saudi Center for Studies and Media Affairs (CSMARC) at the Royal Court, led by a close adviser of bin Salman, as well as “seven members of Muhammad bin Salman’s elite personal protective detail, known as the Rapid Intervention Force.”
A threat to the Kingdom
The report notes that bin Salman viewed Khashoggi as a threat to the Kingdom “and broadly supported using violent measures if necessary, to silence him.”
The intelligence report says that they still do not have visibility on when the Saudis decided to harm the father of five. “Although Saudi officials had pre-planned an unspecified operation against Khashoggi we do not know how far in advance Saudi officials decided to harm him,” it said.
On Thursday, administration officials hinted Biden may also be considering an announcement of some sort of punishment for the Saudis once the report was released.
When asked if the administration would consider sanctions against those found responsible for Khashoggi’s murder, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Thursday, “I expect that we will be in a position before long to speak to steps to promote accountability going forward for this horrific crime.”
The report also noted that at the time of Khashoggi’s murder, “the crown prince fostered an environment in which aides were afraid that failure to complete assigned tasks might result in him firing or arresting them.”
‘Lawlessness won’t stand’
Democratic lawmakers who pushed for years for President Donald Trump to take a tougher stand on the Khashoggi case offered praise for the report’s release.
“His courageous journalism cost Jamal his life. Yet, for years, the last administration shielded the Saudi regime from any kind of responsibility or scrutiny,” Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, said in a statement. “Today, thanks to President Biden and DNI Haines, America is sending the message that this lawlessness won’t stand.”
Rep. Adam Schiff, the California Democrat who chairs the House Select Committee on Intelligence, said that “the highest levels of the Saudi government, including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, are culpable in the murder of journalist and American resident Jamal Khashoggi, and there is no escaping that stark truth laid bare.” Schiff also said in a statement that the report “underscores why Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s repeated claims that he was either unknowing or uninvolved in this heinous crime are in no way credible.”
Sen. Mark Warner, a Virgina Democrat and chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said that “for too long, the United States failed to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for the brutal murder of journalist, dissident, and Virginia resident Jamal Khashoggi.”
New Jersey Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, went further, saying Biden had demonstrated his commitment to transparency and compliance with law “by ending Donald Trump’s cover up of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.”
Shortly after Khashoggi’s October 2018 death, the CIA assessed with high confidence that the crown prince had personally ordered the killing.
But during the Trump administration, US intelligence officials never spoke publicly or presented evidence about the murder at Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul, and at the time, Trump staunchly defended the country’s young, de facto ruler, who is often referred to as MBS.
Trump told biographer Bob Woodward of the crown prince, “I saved his ass.” Woodward wrote in his book “Rage” that in January 2020, Trump also boasted that “I was able to get Congress to leave him alone. I was able to get them to stop.”
The crown prince has denied that he ordered Khashoggi’s murder but has said that he bears responsibility.
“This was a heinous crime,” he said in an interview with CBS in 2019. “But I take full responsibility as a leader in Saudi Arabia, especially since it was committed by individuals working for the Saudi government.”
In June 2019, a United Nations investigator found that it was “inconceivable” the royal heir wasn’t aware of the operation.
As a candidate, Biden said Khashoggi was murdered “on the order of the crown prince” and that the country should be treated like “the pariah that they are.”