This morning the Wall Street Journal (subscription) is reporting new information that further implicates Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman in the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi:
“Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman sent at least 11 messages to his closest adviser, who oversaw the team that killed journalist Jamal Khashoggi, in the hours before and after the journalist’s death in October, according to a highly classified CIA assessment.”
“The previously unreported excerpts reviewed by the Journal state that the CIA has ‘medium-to-high confidence’ that Prince Mohammed ‘personally targeted’ Khashoggi and ‘probably ordered his death.’ It added: ‘To be clear, we lack direct reporting of the Crown Prince issuing a kill order.’”
“The electronic messages … were to Saud al-Qahtani [who] supervised the 15-man team that killed Mr. Khashoggi and … was … in direct communication with the team’s leader in Istanbul, the assessment says.”
Blockbuster from WSJ
-CIA has 11 messages sent by MBS within hours of Khashoggi murder to the man who oversaw it
-MBS spoke of luring Khashoggi outside Saudi to "make arrangements"
-Intercepted messages show MBS had "command & control" over sensitive opps https://t.co/Ji5LdOI013— Avi Asher-Schapiro (@AASchapiro) December 1, 2018
The CIA brief Donald Trump and members of Congress on its intelligence findings last month. Trump has questioned the findings saying “maybe he did; and maybe he didn’t.” The Saudi’s have rejected the accusations.