US intelligence report on journalist’s murder contradicts Trump’s defense of Saudi crown prince

Alongside visiting Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, President Donald Trump forcefully defended the crown prince against accusations he ordered the 2018 murder of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi, an opinion columnist for The Washington Post.

Khashoggi was visiting the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in 2018 when he was kidnapped, killed and dismembered.

In the Nov. 18 Oval Office event with Trump and Salman, ABC News reporter Mary Bruce addressed the crown prince. She said U.S. intelligence "concluded that you orchestrated the brutal murder of a journalist."

"Why should Americans trust you?" she asked.

Trump called ABC "fake news" but responded to Bruce’s question about Khashoggi’s killing.

"As far as this gentleman is concerned, he's done a phenomenal job," Trump said. "You're mentioning somebody that was extremely controversial. A lot of people didn't like that gentleman that you're talking about. Like him or didn't like him, things happen, but he knew nothing about it, and we can leave it at that. You don't have to embarrass our guests by asking a question like that."

Was Trump right that Prince Mohammed — who was making his first trip to Washington, D.C., since the murder — "knew nothing about" it? That’s not what a U.S. intelligence community analysis found when it took up the question in 2019, during Trump’s first term. Experts said that the U.S. intelligence report has gained wide acceptance within foreign policy circles.

"I certainly accept it," Gregory Gause, an emeritus professor at Texas A&M University’s George Bush School of Government and Public Service, said.

Steven Cook, a senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, agreed.

"The CIA's conclusion is the generally accepted account," Cook said. "I don’t know anyone outside of Saudi Arabia who believes that the crown prince had nothing to do with it."

The White House did not respond to an inquiry for this article. 

What did the U.S. intelligence report say?

The report — covered by journalists in 2018 and declassified and released in 2021 — found that the crown prince, commonly known as MBS, "approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey to capture or kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi." 

The report said it based the conclusion on "the Crown Prince's control of decisionmaking 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 said since 2017, Prince Mohammed "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 assessment found that the 15-member Saudi team that went to Istanbul included officials who worked for, or were associated with, a group headed by by Saud al-Qahtani, "a close adviser of Muhammad bin Salman, who claimed publicly in mid 2018 that he did not make decisions without the Crown Prince's approval."

The team in Istanbul also included seven members of Prince Mohammed’s "elite personal protective detail" that "exists to defend the Crown Prince, answers only to him, and had directly participated in earlier dissident suppression operations in the Kingdom and abroad at the Crown Prince's direction."

Given the crown prince’s degree of centralized control, the intelligence report said, "aides were unlikely to question Muhammad bin Salman's orders or undertake sensitive actions without his consent." 

What has the crown prince said about his involvement?

The crown prince denied knowledge of the plot to kill Khashoggi in a September 2019 interview with "60 Minutes." 

Asked whether he ordered the murder, the crown prince said, "Absolutely not. This was a heinous crime. But I take full responsibility as a leader in Saudi Arabia, especially since it was committed by individuals working for the Saudi government. … This was a mistake."

In the Nov. 18 Oval Office meeting, the crown prince did not directly respond to the accusation that he knew of the operation or planned it. 

He said that the murder has "been painful for us in Saudi Arabia. We did all the right steps of investigation, etc., in Saudi Arabia, and we've improved our system to be sure that nothing happens like that. … It's a huge mistake, and we're doing our best that this doesn't happen again."

In an X post after the Oval Office remarks, Khashoggi’s widow, Hanan Elatr Khashoggi, addressed Trump. "There is no justification to murder my husband," she wrote. "While Jamal was a good transparent and brave man many people may not have agreed with his opinions and desire for freedom of the press. The Crown Prince said he was sorry so he should meet me, apologize and compensate me for the murder of my husband."