POLITICUSUSA
The Office of the Special Counsel (OSC) has opened an investigation into the Trump administration’s decision to pursue a nuclear agreement with the government of Saudi Arabia, The Daily Beast reported on Monday.
U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry told lawmakers on Thursday he did not know whether any of the approvals he authorized for U.S. companies to sell nuclear power technology to Saudi Arabia were made after the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October last year.
Saudi Arabia’s minister of state for foreign affairs Adel al-Jubeir said that his country had “absolutely nothing to do” with the National Enquirer’s reporting on or attempted blackmail of Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos. The Saudi official spoke during an extensive interview on the CBS show Face the Nation on Sunday morning.
The bombshell revelation that National Enquirer boss David Pecker was trying to blackmail Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has cast a new spotlight on Donald Trump’s relationship with Saudi Arabia. It may even implicate the president in the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi (a Saudi exile) last October. The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia has been accused of having Khashoggi killed.
Saudi Arabia has rejected a U.S. Senate bipartisan resolution that blamed Saudi crown prince Mohammad Bin Salman (MBS) for the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to the Associated Press (AP). The Saudi government used strong language in rebuking the Senate’s actions, saying it was unwarranted and unwanted intrusion into the affairs of the Saudi kingdom.
Many people believe that the Russia probe is nearing its completion, but now The Daily Beast is reporting that Bob Mueller’s investigation might be moving to a whole new area of the world.
According to The Beast:
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) and his closest adviser, who reportedly was in charge of Jamal Khashoggi’s assassination, exchanged at least 11 messages the day the Saudi journalist was killed.
A Turkish newspaper reported yesterday that the CIA has a “smoking gun” recording of a phone call which proves that Saudi Arabia‘s crown prince ordered the murder of exiled Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Turkey on Wednesday heavily criticized President Donald Trump’s statement about slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi, saying it was “comic.” Our NATO partner also accused the United States of “turning a blind eye” to the murder of the Saudi journalist who was a writer for the Washington Post.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo personally delivered a roadmap to Saudi King Salman to help his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, protect himself from the investigation into the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Saudi Arabia will seek the death penalty for the killers of government critic Jamal Khashoggi, who was murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, a Saudi prosecutor said Thursday.
Eleven people have been charged in Khashoggi’s murder out of 21 people held in the case. Khashoggi, a fierce critic of the Saudi royal family, was strangled to death at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 and his body dismembered, the Saudi chief prosecutor said.
A small group of prominent Democratic U.S. senators has requested a classified briefing with U.S. intelligence officials concerning what the U.S. intelligence community knows about previous threats against the life of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
"We're getting facts in from multiple places and once those facts come in, the secretary of state will work with our national security team to help us determine what we want to believe, and what we think is credible and what we think is not credible," Jared Kushner told Van Jones on CNN Monday.
A senior Saudi government official speaking to Reuters news agency has offered new details concerning the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2nd.
Amnesty International and several other leading global human rights organizations are calling for the United Nations to investigate the killing of Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
In addition to Amnesty International, the groups include the Committee to Protect Journalists, Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders. They have joined together to ask Turkey to pressure the U.N. to open up a formal investigation into Khashoggi’s death.
Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said Wednesday that the Trump administration is severely restricting access to information about missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told The Washington Post that the administration had “clamped down” on sharing intelligence Khashoggi.
The same day U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Saudi Arabia the U.S. government received a $100 million payment from the Saudi kingdom, both the The New York Times and Washington Post reported.
By Doina Chiacu
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican close to President Donald Trump, on Tuesday accused Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of ordering the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and called him a “rogue crown prince” who is jeopardizing relations with the United States.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. lawmakers need to find out what happened in the case of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi before taking any steps against Saudi Arabia, Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell told Bloomberg News on Tuesday, calling U.S.-Saudi relations “not great.”
Saudi Arabia said Sunday it will respond in kind to threats against it after President Donald Trump’s warning of “severe punishment” over the alleged killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The Saudi response came after the Tadawul stock exchange in Riyadh dropped by 7 percent during the week’s first day of trading, with 182 of its 186 listed stocks showing losses.