CIA chief heard recording of Khashoggi
killing during Turkey visit: two sources
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[October 25, 2018]
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - CIA director
Gina Haspel heard an audio recording of the killing of Saudi journalist
Jamal Khashoggi during her visit to Turkey this week, two sources told
Reuters on Thursday, the first indication Ankara has shared its key
evidence.
The killing of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and a critic of
Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has
sparked global condemnation and mushroomed into a major crisis for the
world's top oil exporter.
Saudi Arabia first denied any role in Khashoggi's disappearance before
blaming his Oct. 2 death at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on a botched
attempt to return him to the kingdom.
On Thursday, Saudi state Ekhbariya TV quoted the Saudi public prosecutor
as saying Khashoggi's murder was premeditated, and that prosecutors were
interrogating suspects on the basis of information provided by a joint
Saudi-Turkish task force.
Turkey has dismissed Saudi efforts to blame rogue operatives and urged
the kingdom to search from "top to bottom" for those responsible for the
killing of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of the
Saudi leadership.
Haspel, who arrived in Turkey on Monday, listened to an audio recording
of Khashoggi's killing during her visit, according to the sources,
speaking on the condition they were not further identified.
Representatives of the CIA declined to comment on Haspel's review of the
recording.
"We have shared with those who sought additional information some of the
information and findings that the prosecutor has allowed us to share and
that is legal to share," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told
reporters on Thursday.
He said Turkey had no intention of taking the case to an international
court but would share information if an international inquiry were
launched.
President Tayyip Erdogan has called Khashoggi's murder a "savage
killing" and demanded Riyadh punish those responsible, no matter how
highly placed.
Prince Mohammed promised on Wednesday that the killers would be brought
to justice, in his first public comments on the matter.
He spoke hours after U.S. President Donald Trump was quoted by the Wall
Street Journal as saying that as Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, the
crown prince bore ultimate responsibility for the operation that led to
Khashoggi's death.
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The Central Intelligence Agency's first female director, Gina Haspel,
listens to U.S. President Donald Trump's speech during her
swearing-in ceremony at CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia, U.S.,
May 21, 2018. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
DEFIANT TONE
The killing overshadowed a major business conference in Riyadh this
week but Prince Mohammed, striking a defiant tone, told
international investors on Wednesday that the furor would not derail
the kingdom's reform drive.
"We will prove to the world that the two governments (Saudi and
Turkish) are cooperating to punish any criminal, any culprit and at
the end justice will prevail," he said to applause.
The crisis has strained Riyadh's critical relations with the West -
revolving around Middle East security and oil supplies - and led
dozens of Western officials, world bankers and company executives to
shun the three-day conference.
Riyadh's energy minister said it had signed $56 billion of deals at
the conference despite the partial boycott and that it expected the
United States to remain a key business partner.
"The U.S. will remain a key part of the Saudi economy because the
interests that tie us are bigger than what is being weakened by the
failed boycotting campaign of the conference," Saudi Energy Minister
Khalid Al-Falih told Saudi state TV.
Britain, like the United States a major weapons supplier to the
kingdom, has described Riyadh's explanations for the killing as
lacking credibility. France has said it will consider sanctions
against Saudi Arabia if its intelligence services find Riyadh was
behind Khashoggi's death.
For their part, the Trump administration and the U.S. defense
industry are scrambling to save the few actual deals in a
much-touted $110 billion arms package for Saudi Arabia.
(Additional reporting by Ali Kucukgocmen and Tulay Karadeniz in
Ankara; Writing by Daren Butler and David Dolan; Editing by Mark
Heinrich)
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