Reactions to the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi

The assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident, journalist for The Washington Post and former general manager and editor-in-chief of Al-Arab News Channel, occurred on 2 October 2018 at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and was denounced by the majority of the international community.
For 18 days, Saudi Arabia denied Khashoggi had died in the consulate, before indicating a team of Saudi agents had overstepped their orders to capture him when a struggle ensued leading to his death. Turkey said it believes the killing was premeditated and approved by the Saudi government, and sought extradition of the suspects.
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, expressed support for Saudi government reserving judgment about culpability. This created a bipartisan uproar in Congress, shaking the foundations of the close American-Saudi relationship with calls for suspension of military sales. President Joe Biden, since taking office, also has not taken action against Saudi Arabia for the assassination.
Most countries without a direct tie to Saudi Arabia called for a transparent investigation and condemned the killing. Countries with direct ties characterize the aftermath as a media campaign against Saudi Arabia.
When the news of disappearance of Khashoggi broke out Saudi Arabia claimed he had left the consulate and denied having any knowledge about his fate. Turkish media published evidence suggesting that Khashoggi never came out of the consulate. Saudi Arabia denied any involvement in the case. The international community called for more clarity on the case from Saudi authorities, pressuring Saudi Arabia both politically and economically. Meanwhile, the Turkish authorities leaked facts from the ongoing investigation of the case that refuted Saudi claims.
On 19 October, the Saudi officials admitted Khashoggi died inside the consulate due to strangulation after an argument and fistfight. Saudi Arabian foreign minister called it a "rogue operation" and on 25 October the Saudi prosecutor stated that Turkish-supplied evidence indicates the suspects acted with premeditated intention.
On 3 October, Saudi officials claimed Khashoggi had left the consulate alive, and that he was neither in the consulate nor in Saudi custody. The Saudis denied having any knowledge of his fate. Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman claimed Khashoggi left the consulate shortly after the visit.
On 8 October, Prince Khalid bin Salman, brother of the Crown Prince and Saudi Ambassador to the U.S., published a letter stating that Khashoggi went missing after leaving the consulate. The English-language Arab News on 10 October 2018 reported that Prince Khalid "condemns 'malicious leaks and grim rumors'" and denied any involvement by the Saudi government. On October 15, Saudi Arabia threatened to retaliate against any nation that levelled sanctions against it.
Saudi Arabia is the world's largest oil exporter, but has historically avoided using oil exports as a political tool. On October 15, Turki Aldakhil, the head of Al Arabiya, the Saudi-owned pan-Arab news network based in Dubai, made comments suggesting that the nation would break this tradition: "If President Trump was angered by $80 oil, nobody should rule out the price jumping to $100 and $200 a barrel or maybe double that figure." The Saudi embassy in Washington said Aldakhil didn't represent the country's official position, and Khalid A. Al-Falih, the Saudi energy minister, said his country would act responsibly.
That same week, Saudi Arabia's Office of Public Prosecution tweeted that anyone "affect[ing] the public order or public security" on social media by suggesting that the government was involved in Khashoggi's disappearance could be punished "by five years and a fine of 3 million riyals". Twitter subsequently suspended a number of bot accounts that appeared to be spreading pro-Saudi tweets about the disappearance of Khashoggi.
News reports on Al Arabiya claimed that reports of Khashoggi's disappearance inside the Saudi consulate have been pushed by Qatar. Saudi daily newspaper Okaz claimed that Qatar has a "50 percent ownership of the [Washington] Post and has influence over its editorial direction". Another Saudi newspaper, Al Yaum, claimed that members of the alleged death squad were actually tourists.
The New York Times reported that on 16 October, Saudi Arabia transferred $100 million to the American government, purportedly for its stabilization efforts in Syria, on the same day U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Riyadh for the discussion on Khashoggi with the Saudi king, the crown prince, and the foreign minister. Brett McGurk, the U.S. envoy to the coalition against ISIL, dismissed any connection between the events and had expected the payment in the fall. Saudi Arabia had pledged the money in August without confirming any timelines, and it was unclear to one anonymous official if the payment would ever be made. The Washington Post reported that Saudi Arabia has historically provided large sums of money to other countries to support its foreign policy objectives.
On 19 October, Washington Post reported that Saudi Arabia had arrested 18 unnamed people related to the case, while denying the involvement of Prince bin Salman or King Salman. Saudi Arabia also dismissed five officials of senior rank due to their alleged involvement with the case, including bin Salman's court advisor Saud al-Qahtani, and Ahmad Asiri, the deputy chief of the Saudi intelligence service. Major General Mohammed bin Saleh al-Rumaih, assistant head of the General Intelligence Directorate; Maj. Gen. Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Shaya, head of General Intelligence for Human Resources; and Gen. Rashad bin Hamed al-Mohammad, director of the General Directorate of Security and Protection, were also fired.
The following day, after 18 days of the denial of any involvement with Khashoggi's disappearance, the Saudi government admitted that he had died in the consulate, confirming the Saudi prosecutor's statement. The Saudi government released a statement based on their prosecutor's preliminary investigation which alleged that the suspects met Khashoggi in Istanbul to speak to him about his desire to return to Saudi Arabia. According to this statement, the discussion "developed in a negative way" which led to a fight that ended with Khashoggi's death, prompting the cover-up. Later on 20 October, an anonymous Saudi official was quoted in the news providing a similar account. No evidence was provided at the time to support this explanation of events, and no information was given regarding the whereabouts of Khashoggi's body. The Saudi government said that it would need another month to investigate the death.
During an interview with Fox News on 21 October, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir called Khashoggi's death a murder. It was the first time any official from the Saudi government had done so. He went on to describe the assassination as a "rogue operation" and a "tremendous mistake" that had been compounded by the cover-up attempts. He denied Prince bin Salman's involvement and knowledge, claimed not to know the location of Khashoggi's body, and stated that Saudi Arabia would conduct a full investigation into the murder.
The same day, Reuters reported that an anonymous government official provided further detail on the death. He said Khashoggi was allegedly threatened with drugging and kidnapping by Maher Mutreb. After resisting, he was restrained with a chokehold and died. Mustafa Madani then left through the back door of the consulate disguised as Khashoggi to deceive any observers. Khashoggi's body was rolled up in a carpet and given to a "local cooperator" for disposal. When questioned about Khashoggi's alleged torture and decapitation, the official said preliminary findings did not suggest that happened. The official provided Saudi documents indicating the operation was part of a wider initiative to bring expatriate dissidents home. The original plan was to keep Khashoggi in an Istanbul safe house for a period where he would be persuaded to return home or eventually released, and Mutreb had overstepped by threatening a kidnapping. The team then filed a false report indicating they let Khashoggi leave after he warned of Turkish police interference.
On 25 October, Saudi General Attorney Saud al-Mujeb [ar] said information received from joint working team of Saudi and Turkish investigators indicated that the crime was premeditated.
On 6 November, Al-Jazeera quoted a Turkish official saying that Turkey was informed by Saudi Arabia that it will pay "diya" (a type of financial compensation for harm mandated by Islamic law) to Khashoggi's sons and fiancée. In April 2019, it was reported the four Khashoggi children were given houses believed to be worth up to $4m each, and monthly payments of around $10,000 by Saudis Arabia.
On 9 November Prince Turki al-Faisal, KSA's ex-intelligence chief said the kingdom would "never accept" an international investigation into Khashoggi's murder. On 10 November, Reuters reported quoting intelligence sources that there was no indication of the arrest of any suspect.
On 20 November Saudi Arabia's foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir said claims by the CIA's assessment that crown prince Mohammed gave the order to kill Khashoggi are false: "The leadership of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, represented by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques (the king) and the crown prince, is a red line, and we will not permit attempts to harm or undermine them".
After the Khashoggi assassination, multiple reports indicate that the Saudi regime underwent its worst crisis since the September 11 attacks and the entire House of Saud emerged weakened as a result. The international outrage added pressure to the already divided royal court over Prince Mohammed's rapid ascension to power.
On 30 October, former interior minister Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, who was seen by academics as a figure of special gravitas and as a critic of his nephew Crown Prince Mohammed, returned from his exile to Riyadh with a private security detail provided by US and UK officials and reassurances for safe passage from the king. He had been living in London for the last six years. According to multiple reports, Prince Ahmed's return was considered the most significant development in the royal family since the assassination and did suggest the Saudi royal family may be trying to internally restructure the dynasty.
Saudi dissident Prince Khaled bin Farhan said that if the senior princes Ahmed and Muqrin were to unite ranks, then "99 percent of the members of the royal family, the security services and the army would stand behind them" and could restore the reputation of the family, which has been damaged by King Salman's "irrational, erratic and stupid" rule. Saudi sources reported Mohammed bin Salman "Destroyed the institutional pillars of nearly a century of Al Saud rule: the family, the clerics, the tribes and the merchant families" which they considered as "destabilizing".
On 3 November, Crown Prince Mohammed released Khalid bin Talal, the younger brother of Alwaleed bin Talal, after almost a year in prison, which according to Middle East Eye, was an effort to mitigate the effect of his uncle's return. He had refused to make concessions to be referred to a court of law. Their father Prince Talal had been pressing since the 1960s to turn KSA into a constitutional monarchy.
Madawi al-Rasheed, professor at the Middle East Centre at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and "an important Saudi intellectual in exile", wrote: "Princes are the only conduit by which the United States knows how to deal with Saudi Arabia, and no normal diplomatic measures exist for holding a rogue prince accountable."
According to Reuters, princes from various branches of the Al Saud family opposed the king's favorite son and campaigned to prevent crown prince Mohammed from becoming king. The succession to the throne in KSA is decided by the Allegiance Council, a body where each branch of the ruling family selects the heir they consider fittest to lead.
According to Saudi women's rights activist Manal al-Sharif, Saudi authorities effectively prevented Saudi citizens from seeing the hashtag #JamalKhashoggi or hashtags containing the word "Jamal" by swamping Saudi social media, for the first two weeks following Khashoggi's assassination, with the hashtags #Kidnapping_Ant_and_Cockroach and #Aljamal_Jamal_Alrouh. Al-Sharif stated that by late October 2018, the Arabic equivalent of "I am Arab and Mohammed bin Salman represents me" had become the third-highest trending hashtag worldwide. Al-Sharif interpreted the situation by stating that "it became evident to me that we had lost these social media platforms to the dictators."
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan demanded that the Saudi government provide proof for their claims that Khashoggi left the consulate alive, something that police CCTV did not capture. Neil Quilliam, a senior research fellow with Chatham House's Middle East and North Africa program, told Business Insider that "The staccato nature of the Turkish response suggests that they were prepared to offer the Saudis a way out of the crisis – at least provide them with an off-ramp – but given the Saudi response or lack of it, the authorities continue to share more and more details."
The politician Numan Kurtulmuş, of the ruling Justice and Development Party, said that "it's not possible for the Saudi administration to wiggle itself out of this crime if it's confirmed."
On 23 October, President Erdoğan made a speech about the assassination to the Turkish Parliament; it was his first public statement about Khashoggi's death. He described the murder as Turkish officials understood it, rejecting the Saudi claim of an "accidental killing" and saying that Turkey had evidence that it was a "premeditated political murder". He continued by saying that he was not satisfied with the arrests of the 18 Saudis and pressed for them to be extradited and tried in Turkey. He stated that he believed King Salman had been acting sincerely, but did not mention Prince bin Salman, widely suspected of involvement.
On 26 October, the prosecutor's office in Istanbul submitted an extradition request for the eighteen suspects in the case. President Erdogan asked Saudis to disclose the location of the dead body. He also argued that the suspects should face trial in Turkey. Foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu told reporters that he wanted to know where Khashoggi's body is: "There is a crime here, but there is also a humanitarian situation, the family wants to know and they want to perform their last duty", referring to the family and friends hopes to bury Khashoggi's body.
On 31 October, a Turkish prosecutor stated that Turkish investigators believed that Khashoggi had been strangled upon entering the consulate, then dismembered and disposed of. It was the first such accusation by a Turkish official.
On 10 November Erdogan stated that the audio recordings related to the killing were given to Britain, France, Germany, Saudi Arabia and the United States to maintain the pressure from the international community on Saudi Arabia.
SBS reported that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan "has been relentless in his pursuit of Saudi Arabia over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside their consulate in Istanbul. But inside his own country, Erdogan's has used a similar approach to attack local journalists and critics", part of a massive purge against Erdoğan's perceived enemies. According to Mustafa Kuleli, general secretary of the Journalists Union of Turkey, "Journalist organizations in Turkey are trying to cope with colossal problems with very few professionals: thousands of trials against members, news organizations shut down, unemployment, poor working conditions. We are every day in the courts supporting journalists. I understand why time could not be devoted to the Khashoggi case."
On 24 January 2019 Turkey announced that it would launch an international investigation in Khashoggi's murder and accused the United States of a cover up. The inquirity is to be led by Agnes Callamard, the United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.
President Donald Trump expressed concern about the fate of Khashoggi, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called on Saudi Arabia "to support a thorough investigation of Mr. Khashoggi's disappearance and to be transparent about the results of that investigation". After speaking to the Saudi king by phone, Trump said that Salman "denies any knowledge of whatever may have happened... The denial was very, very strong. It sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers. Who knows?" On 16 October, Trump dispatched Pompeo to Riyadh to meet with King Salman, where he "reiterated U.S. concern over Khashoggi's disappearance", while also thanking the king for his "commitment to a thorough, transparent investigation".
The reported killing created a bipartisan uproar in Congress, shaking the foundations of the close American-Saudi relationship with calls for suspension of military sales. Senior Republican senator Lindsey Graham's reaction was stern, as he said "there would be hell to pay" if Saudi is involved in the murder of Khashoggi. He further added, "If they're this brazen, it shows contempt. Contempt for everything we stand for, contempt for the relationship." Chris Murphy, a junior Democratic senator, wrote that if the reports are true "it should represent a fundamental break in our relationship with Saudi Arabia." Murphy also called for at least a temporary halt in military support for the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen. The United States Congress can block or modify an arms sale.
Former ambassador to Saudi Arabia Robert Jordan said on 12 October that he is "95 percent certain" that Saudi Arabia killed Jamal Khashoggi.
Senator Rand Paul said that he would attempt to force a vote on blocking future arms sales to Saudi Arabia. Senator Bob Corker, the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, sent a letter to Trump over Khashoggi's disappearance. Signed by the entire Committee other than Senator Paul who prepared his own letter, it "instructs the administration to determine whether Khashoggi was indeed kidnapped, tortured, or murdered by the Saudi government and, as the Global Magnitsky Act requires, to respond within 120 days with a determination of sanctions against individuals who may have been responsible".
Senator Bernie Sanders denounced the Trump administration, saying that "Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman feels emboldened by the Trump administration's unquestioning support."
Trump told journalists: "I know [Senators] are talking about different kinds of sanctions, but [the Saudis] are spending $110 billion on military equipment and on things that create jobs for this country." Trump, in responding specifically to the Senate's attempt to block the Saudi arms deal, stated that the blocking of such a deal "would not be acceptable to me". While opposing trade sanctions, Trump remained open to the possibility of other forms of what he described as the "severe punishment" of Saudi Arabia.
Senator Richard Blumenthal stated: "All American businesses and nonprofit organizations should review and re-evaluate their relationships with Saudi Arabia in light of the ... murder, which seemingly could not have been done without knowledge at the highest levels of its government."
In the wake of Khashoggi's murder, universities and think tanks faced renewed scrutiny over their close ties to KSA. In March 2018 UC Berkeley, Harvard University, Yale Law School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab, one of the university's most famous laboratories, had accepted a visit from crown prince Mohammad bin Salman. At MIT Media Lab he was shown demos of war-related technologies like autonomous robots which are used for military purposes, made by a company called Boston Dynamics, which is an MIT affiliate. The visits to MIT and Harvard were not widely publicized or accompanied by public events, and the visit was held in spite of protests and petitions demanding its cancellation. In light of the visits and subsequent assassination of Khashoggi, student newspapers called for the schools to cut ties with the Saudi Government. MIT's president L. Rafael Reif has previously defended their relationship with the Saudi government, pointing to a Saudi fellowship which has brought 27 Saudi women PhDs to the school and arguing that "not engaging neither creates nor encourages significant positive change". The Brookings Institution chose to terminate their sole research grant with the Saudi government on 12 October 12.
Former National Security Adviser Susan Rice wrote in The New York Times on 29 October that "As this litany of lunacy shows, Prince Mohammed is not and can no longer be viewed as a reliable or rational partner of the United States and our allies." She demanded: "We need to stop privileging Jared Kushner's relationship with the crown prince, and finally fill the vacant ambassadorship to the kingdom, to engage with a broader range of senior Saudi officials. President Trump's inexplicable infatuation with Prince Mohammed must end, and he must recalibrate American policy so that it serves our national interests – not his personal interests or those of the crown prince."
In Washington, a petition launched to rename the section of New Hampshire Avenue where the Saudi embassy is located as "Jamal Khashoggi Way". After a memorial service for Jamal Khashoggi in London on 29 October 2018, his long-time friend Nihad Awad and head of Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), urged to begin petitions in every city where Riyadh has a diplomatic mission.
In a phone call with Crown Prince Mohammed on 11 November, Secretary of State Pompeo ″emphasized that the United States will hold all of those involved in the killing of Khashoggi accountable, and that Saudi Arabia must do the same″.
In the letter to President Trump on 31 October a group of Republican senators urged a halt on selling US nuclear power equipment to Saudi Arabia. They wrote they have long had reservations about selling nuclear technology and stressed that the Saudis have balked a 123 agreements – a civilian nuclear agreement setting non-proliferation standards to prevent the country from building a nuclear weapon by setting limits on uranium enrichment, as well the reprocessing of spent fuels. The senators called for KSA to accept the "Gold Standard" for nuclear non-proliferation enshrined in US agreements, especially in light of President Trump's efforts to block Iran's path to a weapon. In an CBS interview in March 2018, Crown Prince Mohammed made clear that even if the KSA were not actively pursuing a nuclear weapon, the Saudi adherence to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty is conditional and could change suddenly.
Henry Sokolski, head of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, deliberated "any negotiations regarding a US-Saudi nuclear cooperation agreement should be halted. If the Trump administration refuses to do this, Congress should make clear, as part of its broader response to the Khashoggi killing, that any agreement submitted for review will be blocked."
16 days after Khashoggi was assassinated the Trump administration granted the first authorizations to US-companies to share sensitive nuclear power information with Saudi Arabia. After repeated requests, the US Department of Energy informed the Senate in June 2019 that, of a total of seven permits for nuclear technical expertise transfers. An authorization approval occurred 18 February 2019. In the past, 810 authorizations had been made available for the public to view at department headquarters. US-Senator from Virginia Tim Kaine called the timing of the approvals "shocking" and said it adds to a "disturbing pattern of behavior" of the administration's policy on Saudi Arabia. Kaine stated: "There is something going on where Saudi Arabia gets just a complete free pass that no other nation in the world gets from this administration. I don't know why that it is but I think we have to dig into it and figure it out. I want to dig into the companies that get the nuclear approval. I think we need to do more work to explore their financial ties to the Trump family."
According to CNN, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during his visit to Saudi Arabia had told Mohammad Bin Salman that "his future as king depends on his handling of Khashoggi's suspected murder." Pompeo emphasized that if Saudi Arabia failed to investigate, the US would feel the need to step in. On 15 October The Washington Post reported that Trump had been receiving bipartisan pressure to intervene in the situation. President Trump stated on October 19 that he wanted to issue sanctions against Saudi Arabia, but did not want to cancel an existing deal that included "$110 billion worth of work, which means 600,000 jobs" purely "as retribution". According to the New York Times, Trump's reluctance in some part came from his administration's plans for Iran. The US government was planning to reimpose economic sanctions against Iran, with a view to blocking its oil exports, on November 5. They had anticipated relying on Saudi Arabia to provide oil and coordinate foreign policy with the US; issuing sanctions against Saudi Arabia would interfere with that plan.
Commenting on the Saudi explanation that Khashoggi died inside the consulate after a fight, Trump said he considered it credible and called the official statement a "good first step". Several Republican senators, including Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham, Bob Corker, and Rand Paul, have demanded a definitive response from the Trump administration towards Saudi Arabia, with the Trump administration yet remaining unwilling to impose any specific sanctions on the country. In response to Trump's apparent faith in the most recently revised official Saudi version of the killing, The Washington Post CEO Fred Ryan said, "The Saudis cannot be allowed to fabricate a face-saving solution to an atrocity that appears to have been directed by the highest levels of their government."
In a 20 October interview with the Washington Post, Trump acknowledged that Saudi statements had contained "deception," but said he had not yet seen evidence confirming the involvement of the Crown prince. When asked about the possibility of sanctions on Saudi Arabia, Trump stated it was too early to decide. On 21 October, Trump affirmed to reporters in the White House that he was "not satisfied" with Saudi Arabia's explanation, criticising their request to have one month to investigate the situation themselves. He said he had "people over in Saudi Arabia now. We have top intelligence people in Turkey, and we're going to see what we have. I'll know a lot tomorrow." However, he was hesitant to cancel the arms sale deal with Saudi Arabia. CNN reported that, according to sources, CIA director Gina Haspel was traveling to Turkey that day in relation to the Turkish Khashoggi investigation. When asked about this report the CIA did not offer comment.
That day when questioned by reporters at the oval office, Trump said of the Saudis' actions after Khashoggi's death that "They had a very bad original concept, it was carried out poorly, and the cover-up was the worst in the history of cover-ups. They had the worst-cover up ever". In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Trump said that Mohammad bin Salman may have been behind Khashoggi's death. US officials have stated that the killing could not have been done without having the authorization of Prince bin Salman who is the de facto ruler. According to anonymous US officials, the CIA has concluded that Mohammed bin Salman ordered the assassination; the conclusion is based on multiple sources, including a phone call in which Khalid bin Salman, brother of Mohammed bin Salman and Saudi Ambassador to the U.S., assured Khashoggi would be safe go to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to retrieve the documents for the marriage. A Saudi Embassy spokeswoman stated "the claims in this purported assessment are false" and Khalid bin Salman denied talking to Khashoggi by phone or suggesting that he should to go to Turkey.
On 13 November 2018, President Trump announced the nomination of retired Army Gen. John Abizaid as U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, a post that was vacant for nearly two years.
On 23 October, Trump's Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the US was taking action against 21 Saudi individuals they believed were involved in Khashoggi's death, who will have their visas revoked or will be made ineligible for one. He also said he talked to the Treasury Department about the applicability of sanctions against those involved. On 15 November, The US treasury department declared that it has imposed economic sanctions on 17 Saudi officials who it said had "targeted and brutally killed" Khashoggi, who lived and worked in the US, and that these 17 individuals "must face consequences for their actions". The list of sanctioned included Qahtani, Mutreb, and Alotaibi. The declaration stated "Saud al-Qahtani is a senior official of the Government of Saudi Arabia who was part of the planning and execution of the operation that led to the killing... This operation was coordinated and executed by his subordinate Maher Mutreb... The Saudi consulate in Istanbul, where Mr. Khashoggi was killed, was overseen by Consul General Mohammed Alotaibi."
On 16 November 2018, a CIA assessment was leaked to the media that with "high confidence" crown prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered Khashoggi's assassination. Regardless, President Trump continued to disregard his own CIA assessment. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee, who was briefed by the CIA on the assessment stated that President Trump was lying about the CIA findings. Under mounting pressure from lawmakers who wanted action against KSA, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, in a rare closed briefing addressing the Senate, declared there was no direct evidence linking the crown prince to the Khashoggi's assassination. Many lawmakers were furious that CIA Director Gina Haspel, the only Trump cabinet member who listened to the audio recordings of the assassination in Istanbul, did not participate in the briefing, as they had requested.
After a small group of bipartisan senators were briefed by CIA Director Haspel on 4 December 2018, their takeaway was dramatically different from that of the administration. Even leading Republican senators distanced themselves from President Trump and stated they are certain that Mohammed bin Salman indeed ordered the assassination. Bob Corker, the Republican chair of the Senate foreign relations committee, affirmed immediately after the Haspel briefing: "I have zero question in my mind that the crown prince ordered the killing, monitored the killing, knew exactly what was happening. If he was in front of a jury, he would be convicted in 30 minutes. Guilty. So the question is, 'What do we do about that?'". Republican senator Lindsey Graham, a close ally of President Trump, emerged from the Haspel briefing more convinced than ever that Mohammed bin Salman was "complicit". He told reporters on Capitol Hill that "there's not a smoking gun, there's a smoking saw", in reference to the medical device the Saudi kill team allegedly used to dismember Khashoggi. He acknowledged: "The crown prince is a wrecking ball. I think he's complicit in the murder of Mr. Khashoggi to the highest level possible. I think his behavior before the Khashoggi murder was beyond disturbing. And I cannot see him being a reliable partner to the United States. If the Saudi government is going to be in the hands of this man for a long time to come, I find it very difficult to be able to do business because I think he's crazy, I think he is dangerous."
A former Saudi intelligence chief and senior member of the Saudi royal family Prince, Turki bin Faisal Al Saud, dismissed the CIA's finding that Khashoggi's murder was ordered directly by Mohammed bin Salman, saying that "The CIA has been proved wrong before. Just to mention the invasion of Iraq for example. The CIA is not necessarily the best measure of creditable intelligence reporting or intelligence assessment."
Since taking office President Biden also did not take any action against Saudi Arabia.
On 18 October 2018 at a press conference at the United Nations four major human rights groups demanded an independent UN investigation into Khashoggi's assassination. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Amnesty International (AI), Human Rights Watch (HRW), and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) called on Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres to appoint an investigator. The UN team should be allowed full access to any sites and allowed to interview witnesses or suspects without interference. KSA should immediately waive diplomatic protections and Turkey should turn over all evidence in its possession, including audio and visual records that Turkish officials have claimed reveal Khashoggi's murder. AI's head of the New York office, Sherine Tadros, pointed to Saudi Arabia's human rights record: "This incident didn't happen in a vacuum. Jamal Khashoggi is not one case that is an anomaly. It happened in a context of an increased crackdown on dissent since June 2017 when the crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman took his position."
CPJ's Deputy Executive Director Robert Mahoney said at the press conference: "This sends an incredibly chilling signal to journalists around the world that their lives don't matter and that states can have you murdered with impunity." "UN involvement is the best guarantee against a Saudi whitewash or attempts by other governments to sweep the issue under the carpet to preserve lucrative business ties with Riyadh."
Louis Charbonneau, the UN Director at HRW, said: "If in fact it's true, that the most senior members of the Saudi government were behind the execution and dismemberment of Mr. Khashoggi, then we don't want the culprits investigating themselves." "Only the UN has the credibility and independence required to expose the masterminds behind Khashoggi's enforced disappearance and to hold them accountable."
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet also urged Saudi Arabia to reveal the location of Khashoggi's body.
Christophe Deloire, Secretary-General of RSF, wrote: "Any attempt to get rid of the pressure on Saudi Arabia and to accept a compromise policy would result in giving a 'license to kill' to a Kingdom that puts in jail, lashes, kidnaps and even kills journalists who dare to investigate and launch debates".
Amnesty, the CPJ, HRW and RSF stated that the Saudi-Turkish investigation group will be unable to make progress in the face of KSA's denials of any involvement.
On 19 October 2018 Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres released an official statement saying that the confirmation of Khashoggi's death "deeply troubled" him, and emphasized the need for a full investigation into the circumstances.
Between 28 January and 3 February 2019 UN Special Rapporteur Agnès Callamard, who is leading an international human rights inquiry into the murder, visited Turkey. The preliminary report on the inquiry, published on 7 February, concluded that Khashoggi "was the victim of a brutal and premeditated killing, planned and perpetrated by officials of the State of Saudi Arabia". The full report, released on 19 June, further affirmed these conclusions, also tying the Crown Prince, Mohammad bin Salman, to the assassination.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said that he has "real concerns" about the disappearance of Khashoggi. Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland "reaffirmed (Canada's) commitment to defending freedom of expression and protection of the free press" and raised the issue directly with her Saudi counterpart, calling for "a thorough, credible and transparent investigation into the serious allegations about Mr. Kashoggi's disappearance." She added that "Canada remains very troubled by (his) disappearance."
On 22 October, after preliminary findings of the Saudi investigation emerged, Global Affairs Canada said "The explanations offered to date lack consistency and credibility." It reiterated Canada's condemnation of the killing and condolence to the family and urged investigators to work with Turkey toward justice.
When asked about a pending sale of 742 Light Armoured Vehicles to Saudi Arabia in light of Khashoggi's death and the Yemeni war during question period in Parliament on 22 October, Trudeau said: "We have frozen export permits before when we had concerns about their potential misuse and we will not hesitate to do so again." The contract, with London, Ontario's General Dynamics Land Systems Canada, is estimated at $15 billion. However, Canada will be respecting the export permits that have already been issued. Canadian ministers and embassy staff had skipped attending the business summit in Riyadh due to the incident.
At the request of Prime Minister Trudeau spy chief David Vigneault departed for Turkey to work on the investigation. Vigneault, the director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, listened to the recording of the Turkish authorities of Khashoggi's assassination and upon his return provided a briefings to Trudeau as well as other Canadian officials.
The foreign ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) nations called for a thorough and credible investigation, saying Saudi Arabia must ensure such an incident could never happen again.
Al Jazeera reported on 13 October that "the Arab world stays silent... there's been no official reaction from any Arab government, and hardly any condemnation from Arab media." Another news outlet, Middle East Eye, reported on 15 October that "Largely silent until Sunday, Arab leaders come out publicly in support of the kingdom after US President Donald Trump threatens 'severe punishment'."
British business magnate Richard Branson issued a statement on 11 October that he was suspending his advisory role for the two Saudi Vision 2030-related projects he is involved with amidst the Khashoggi controversy.
Masayoshi Son, leader of Japanese IT and software conglomerate SoftBank Group, which has been a large conduit for high-tech investments of the Saudi Crown Prince, pulled out of his scheduled speech at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) business summit, which is in its second year. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, The Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman, Google Cloud Chief Executive Diane Greene, Viacom CEO Robert Bakish, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, AOL co-founder Steve Case, Richard Branson's Virgin Group, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, the Financial Times, Bloomberg, CNN, The New York Times, The Economist, CNBC, Brookfield Asset Management, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, and Ford Motor chairman Bill Ford all withdrew their participation in the FII summit. Y Combinator CEO Sam Altman announced that he is suspending his "involvement with the NEOM advisory board until the facts regarding Jamal Khashoggi's disappearance are known". Siemens CEO Joe Kaeser pulled out the day before conference start.
The French finance minister Bruno Le Maire, Dutch finance minister Wopke Hoekstra, British Secretary of State for International Trade Liam Fox, United States Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin, and International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde withdrew their participation in the FII conference as well. The Government of Canada has also indicated that they have no intention of sending anyone to the conference.
Bahrain's foreign minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa called for a boycott of Uber in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, urging to "boycott anyone who boycotts Saudi Arabia". The Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia invested $3.5 billion in Uber in 2016.
Four American senators, including two members of the Committee on Foreign Relations, urged professional wrestling company WWE (which is owned by Vince McMahon, the husband of then-Administrator of the Small Business Administration Linda McMahon) to reconsider its business relationship with Saudi Arabia, and particularly their Crown Jewel event. Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs, who wrestles for WWE under the ring name Kane, took part in the show as scheduled. His spokesman said: "Mayor Jacobs won't speculate on Mr. Khashoggi's disappearance. However, he and his family are in the mayor's thoughts and prayers." After briefly removing ticket and venue information from its website, WWE announced on 25 October that the Crown Jewel event would go on as planned, and the show aired on 2 November.
Khashoggi wrote on Twitter before his murder: "What has happened to us? How can someone like Dr. Walid Fitahi be arrested and what are the justifications for it? Of course, everyone is in a state of confusion and helplessness, there is no one you can go to, no public prosecutor has questioned. God help us." Ritz-Carlton hotel was used to hold many of the prominent prisoners by the Saudi government in 2017, according to Saudi activists. Aljazeera reported, Dr.Fitaihi told a friend he was "blindfolded, stripped of his underwear and bound to a chair". Also, the daily report said, The Saudi government tortured him with electricity shocking "what appears to have been a single session of torture that lasted about an hour". Reports also said, he was whipped so severely, he could not sleep on his back for days.
On 18 October, Twitter suspended a number of suspected bot accounts constructed to support Mohammed bin Salman and appearing to smear Khashoggi.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has stopped its cooperation with nonprofit MiSK Foundation chaired by Saudi crown prince Mohammad bin Salman. BMGF had pledged $5 million to MiSk but has cancelled most of it, calling the murder "extremely troubling".
A number of leading bankers and financial sponsors of the Mohammed bin Salman Regime—including Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, who had boycotted the Future Investments Initiative on the grounds that his bank "couldn't be seen in any way [to be] condoning" Khashoggi's murder—quietly continued negotiations in the months following the killing as part of a long-planned bond sale benefitting Aramco, the world's most profitable company, taking in more than $100 billion in bond orders, and achieving success for the state-owned company by ultimately issuing $12 billion in new debt as part of one of the most oversubscribed bond offers in Wall Street history. Morgan Stanley, HSBC, and Goldman Sachs were among the banks participating in the bond sale which had participated in the "boycott" of Mohammed bin Salman's "Davos in the Desert" conference immediately following Khashoggi's consulate assassination and dismemberment. Asked for an explanation of the apparent turnaround, JP Morgan spokesman Andrew Gray explained: “We do business all over the world and stick with companies and countries in good times and bad and ultimately, we are serving the citizens of any nation where we do business and want to engage and help bring people up.”