Top U.S. diplomat meets with Saudi leaders to discuss journalist’s disappearance

America’s top diplomat met Tuesday with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdul Aziz and his son Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the disappearance and alleged killing of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi at the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo shook hands with both men, who warmly greeted him just hours after Turkish crime-scene scientists finished a search of the Saudi Consulate, looking for evidence that the Washington Post columnist was killed. A high-level Turkish official who spoke on the condition of not being named told the Associated Press that police found evidence there of Khashoggi’s slaying. Saudi officials have denied Turkish allegations that the kingdom killed Khashoggi, but reports in U.S. media Tuesday said the Saudis may admit that the writer, who disappeared October 2, was killed at the consulate, perhaps in a botched interrogation. Khashoggi fled Saudi Arabia and moved to the United States after the rise to power of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. He wrote columns for The Post that were critical of the prince’s policies. — Associated Press


Whose interests is Trump looking out for in Saudi Arabia?

The Post’s Philip Bump That phrasing by Trump is not even subtle; it’s a glaring dodge around the real issue, which is the extent to which the president and his son-in-law Jared Kushner directly benefit from Saudi money. The issue goes to the heart of questions about Trump’s loyalty to the United States’ interests over his own and whether he is in violation of constitutional provisions designed specifically to prevent foreign manipulation of our government and its policies. The Post previously reported Reports also circulated this year that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bragged that he had Kushner “in his pocket.” Whether he was referring to financial influence, or simply the ability to charm and manipulate the novice diplomat, is not clear. This situation — fear of foreign manipulation of executive branch officials — is precisely what led the Founders to craft the foreign emoluments clause. Constitutional scholar Laurence Tribe tells me, “The tortured and lackluster response of the Trump administration to the Saudi kidnapping, torture, and [apparent] murder in Istanbul of Jamal Khashoggi, a permanent American resident who was a longtime critic of the Saudi rulers and their policies but was a Saudi patriot even as he wrote for The Washington Post … cannot be persuasively explained by any meaningful economic or national security benefit to the United States.” He explains, “On the contrary, the only plausible explanation of our shamefully weak response is the way the Saudi Royal Family and the government it constitutes has been and remains a rich source of unconstitutional Foreign Emoluments to President Trump personally and to his barely American version of a ‘royal’ family.” He continues: “The point of the Foreign emoluments clause was to eliminate even the suspicion that our leaders are governing and shaping U.S. policy on behalf of foreign princes and powers rather than on behalf of the American people. No proof of quid pro quo bribery, independently an impeachable offense, is needed. In this instance, sadly, even such proof might not be too hard for a Democratic House of Representatives to unearth.” There are multiple lawsuits seeking to uncover and eliminate Trump’s receipt of foreign monies. Norman Eisen, of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), is leading the effort in two lawsuits, one brought by CREW and private parties and the other by the state of Maryland and the District of Columbia. Eisen tells me that “my


How athletes are changing the conversation around racism

Five decades may have passed since Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their black-gloved hands in protest on the Olympic platform, but the 1968 and 2018 parallels are lost on no one. Whether raised fists or dropped knees, protests by prominent African American athletes command our attention — and highlight our division — as the same conversation of racial injustice continues. Today, the public watches as the National Football League’s modern version of that protest extends into its third year. These modern and historic athletes put their professional careers on the line in a time of political unrest. And while the ultimate impact of this new protest remains uncertain, the American public seems more poised now to entertain the athletes' concerns than in the past. At the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, the U.S. national anthem played as the new 200-meter world-recorder holder and gold medalist Smith and bronze medalist Carlos stood heads bowed and arms raised in the black power salute. With only a single pair of black gloves between them, Smith raised his gloved right hand and Carlos his left. As a deeply divided nation looked on, the American champions were quickly and widely shunned. In many respects, they protested the same oppressive society that Colin Kaepernick would 50 years later. Like Kaepernick’s protest, the protest of Tommie Smith and John Carlos was a calculated move. The two had been students at San Jose State University, where sociologist Harry Edwards had led a campaign to boycott the Mexico City games. On the winners’ podium, Smith and Carlos stood without shoes to symbolize the poverty plaguing black Americans, necks draped with a black scarf and beads, a reminder of lynching. The message was deliberate. It’s difficult to overestimate the sense of unrest and division in the United States as the Mexico City Olympics approached. Over a matter of just a few months, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy had been assassinated. Race riots the previous summer and in the wake of King’s death had resulted in well over 100 fatalities. And the war in Vietnam waged on. Amid this heightened anxiety, the general public was in no mood to entertain an orchestrated political statement at the Olympic medal ceremony. Smith and Carlos, like other athletes before and after them, used celebrity to draw attention to racial injustice. And like many others, they paid a price. Some


Turkey releases passport scans of men it says were involved in journalist’s killing

Saudi team involved in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. These passport scans add to the information made public by Turkey as it seeks to fill out the narrative of what happened to Khashoggi, a Post contributor who vanished after entering the consulate to obtain a document he needed for his upcoming wedding. The Post is publishing the passport scans but obscuring the faces and names of the men because it has not independently verified their identities. Within days of Khashoggi’s disappearance, Turkish investigators said they had pieced together most of the mystery, concluding that he had been killed inside the consulate and dismembered. Turkey said a 15-member team dispatched from Saudi Arabia played a role in the killing. Turkish officials have confirmed that the 15 names reported in the Turkish media are those of the suspected team members, and their alleged involvement is part of the evidence cited by Turkey that Saudi Arabia was responsible for Khashoggi’s death. Saudi officials have repeatedly denied any involvement in Khashoggi’s disappearance and say they have no information about his whereabouts. Over the past two days, Saudi Arabia has allowed Turkish police to search the consulate. But investigators have been frustrated with what they say is a lack of Saudi cooperation, according to two senior Turkish officials, who cited the long delay before they were allowed to enter the consulate. They also noted apparent Saudi attempts to scrub the scene by bringing in cleaning crews and repainting areas of the consulate. “People who have nothing to hide,” one official said, “don’t behave like this.” Saudi Arabia has made no official statement about the men or said why they may have been in Istanbul on Oct. 2. A report on the Saudi-owned al-Arabiya news channel said the 15 were “tourists” who had been falsely accused. The senior Turkish officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said they were eager to interview members of the 15-man Saudi team, all of whom were believed to have arrived and left Istanbul on the day Khashoggi disappeared. It was not clear why Turkish officials did not provide scans of all 15 passports. The passport copies were provided to The Post on the same day as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit to Saudi Arabia, where he met with King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. souad.mekhennet@washpost.com kareem.fahim@washpost.com


Spike in paralyzing, polio-like illness mainly affecting children confirmed in 22 states, CDC says

More than 120 confirmed or possible cases of a mysterious and rare condition have been documented so far this year, mostly since August, a top federal health official said Tuesday. Acute flaccid myelitis, or AFM, mostly affects children and can paralyze arms and legs. The number of cases has surged since 2014, baffling health officials. There is no specific treatment for the disease.This is a developing story. It will be updated.


In Ethiopian leader’s new cabinet, half the ministers are women

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Ethiopia’s reformist prime minister announced Tuesday a new cabinet that is half female, in an unprecedented push for gender parity in Africa’s second-most-populous nation. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has marked his nearly seven months in office with staggering reforms for this once authoritarian country, notably releasing thousands of political prisoners, making peace with Ethiopia’s main enemy, Eritrea, and promising to open up the economy. The new cabinet, which reduces ministerial positions from 28 to 20, has women in the top security posts for the first time in Ethiopia’s history. Aisha Mohammed will be in charge of defense, and Muferiat Kamil, a former parliamentary speaker, will head the newly formed Ministry of Peace. In some ways, this could be one of the most important ministries in the government, though its name has garnered a degree of criticism on social media for its Orwellian sound. It oversees the federal police, the intelligence services and the information security agency, and it will take the lead in tackling much of the ethnic unrest that has swept the countryside since Abiy’s reforms. “Our women ministers will disprove the adage that women can’t lead,” Abiy said in Parliament. Although women have been in the cabinet before, they often held minor positions. In the new cabinet, in addition to defense and security, women will head the ministries of trade, transport and labor, as well as culture, science and revenue. Awol Allo, an expert on Ethiopia at Britain’s Keele University, said this was especially important because the lack of gender equality is a persistent problem in the country, which has strong patriarchal traditions. “It is a very important and progressive move on the part of the prime minister and very consistent with the transformative agendas he’s been pursuing,” Allo said. “I also think it sends a strong message to young Ethiopian women that one day they can take up positions in the government.” Also represented in the new cabinet are often marginalized ethnic groups. A diverse nation of about 80 ethnicities, Ethiopia has long been dominated by just a few groups. Aisha, the new defense minister, comes from the arid and predominantly Muslim Afar region, while Finance Minister Ahmed Shide is from the Somali region. Hallelujah Lulie, an analyst based in Addis Ababa, pointed out the presence in the cabinet of two Muslim women who wear headscarves, an important inclusion in a country that


The latest thing climate change is threatening is our history

100 years by a large margin. Reimann said a handful of places — including Venice, which is putting in place a mobile barrier system to help guard against floodwaters — have poured time and money into finding ways to adapt. But such sites are in the minority. "We couldn’t really find any other examples across the whole Mediterranean region where adaptation measures were pursued as much as in Venice,” Reimann said. National governments are charged with caring for World Heritage sites. But Reimann said that although there are regionwide sustainability efforts, those policies don’t deal specifically with vulnerable cultural sites. “When you go over the management plans, there are just a few that mention sea-level rise as a threat,” she said, adding, “There are many sites where adaptation is urgently needed.” The United Nations itself has recognized the precarious nature of many heritage sites amid the changing climate, saying that “their continued preservation requires understanding these impacts,” as well as “responding to them effectively." Over the dozen years, UNESCO has studied the potential effects of climate change on historic sites and put together guidance for people managing specific sites on how to make them more resilient. In 2014, it published a guide. Using both theoretical examples and real-life case studies, the guide offers site managers a road map for how to plan for climate change. “Climate change is not a passing trend — it is here to stay, and it will impact all landscapes, including all natural World Heritage sites, fundamentally changing the way we understand and manage them,” the guide reads. It adds, “What is clear is that change is on the way.” The research, in the end, adds a new guise to sea-level rise, which has been traditionally discussed in terms of how it is affecting people’s present-day homes and modern cities, not ancient ones. But perhaps those two narratives aren’t so different. “The [sites] that the UNESCO has declared as cultural heritage are the ones of the past. We are currently building the cultural heritage of the future in our cities and coastal areas,” said Anders Levermann, an expert on sea-level rise at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, who was not involved in the study. “And if we have to abandon these eventually because of the flood risk or because they’re simply really under the sea level, that will be a tremendous loss.”


Has Mohammed bin Salman finally gone too far?

The unexplained disappearance and presumed killing of Jamal Khashoggi brings attention to the security crackdown in Saudi Arabia since Mohammed bin Salman (“MBS”) became crown prince in June 2017. Successive waves of arrests targeted journalists, writers, clerics, business executives and, most recently, women’s rights advocates. Concern that he also was a target drove Khashoggi into self-imposed exile in the United States last summer. Khashoggi — a Washington Post columnist — wrote articles that portrayed a very different narrative than the one pushed by the legions of Saudi boosters in the West. Khashoggi’s presence in the Washington area, his insight derived from decades of flitting in and out of the Saudi elite, and his easygoing, scholarly manner made him a go-to source for policymakers and journalists alike. The ruling circle around MBS was presented with the specter of the regime’s highest-profile and best-connected critic operating in the heart of the one Western capital in which it most wanted to drive the conversation. Khashoggi’s connections to influential Saudis For many years, the notion that Khashoggi would turn into the Saudi regime’s most-wanted opponent would have seemed inconceivable as he built a career as a journalist and an operative in close connection to the Saudi ruling establishment. Khashoggi worked closely on media initiatives with Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the billionaire businessman detained in the November roundup of dozens of influential business executives and ruling-family members by MBS. Khashoggi also advised Prince Turki al-Faisal al-Saud, the former longtime head of Saudi intelligence who served as Saudi ambassador to Britain and then the United States in the 2000s. Proximity to the royal family went back generations — Khashoggi’s grandfather served as personal physician to Saudi Arabia’s founding king. Controversies from 2003 Khashoggi’s relationship with the Saudi elite was, however, more nuanced and complicated, and there were several instances during his career when he incurred the authorities’ displeasure because of things he said or did. In 2003, he was fired as editor in chief of al-Watan newspaper after just 54 days after an argument between an al-Watan journalist and the powerful interior minister, Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz. Khashoggi’s tenure as the director of the Al-Arab News Channel — set up by Alwaleed and headquartered in Bahrain in a show of post-Arab Spring solidarity — was even shorter: The channel’s programing was suspended after its first day of operation for airing an interview with a Bahraini


Trump’s ‘rogue killers’ defense for Saudi Arabia

After a phone call with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, President Trump floated the idea that journalist Jamal Khashoggi was the victim of “rogue killers.”


‘He had this guy murdered’: Sen. Lindsey Graham blames Saudi crown prince for missing journalist

Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) on Tuesday accused the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, of having Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi killed and said, “This guy has got to go.” Graham’s comments, on Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends,” were far less cautious than those of President Trump, who said in a pair of tweets Tuesday afternoon that the crown prince had “totally denied any knowledge” of what happened in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul and promised answers “shortly.” Khashoggi disappeared after a visit to the consulate two weeks ago. “He had this guy murdered in the consulate in Turkey. Expect me to ignore it? I feel used and abused,” Graham said, referring to his previous advocacy for Saudi Arabia as a senator. “I was on the floor every time defending Saudi Arabia because they are a good ally.” Graham then suggested King Salman should choose another prince to be Saudi Arabia’s presumptive leader. “This MBS figure to me is toxic,” Graham said, referring to the crown prince, who is widely known by his initials. “He can never be a world leader on the world stage . . . This guy has got to go. Saudi Arabia, if you’re listening, there are a lot of good people you can choose, but MBS has tainted your country and tainted himself.” The Washington Post reported last week that the crown prince had ordered an operation to lure Khashoggi back to Saudi Arabia from his home in Virginia and then detain him, according to U.S. intelligence intercepts of Saudi officials discussing the plan. Trump has been hesitant to blame Saudi leaders. In tweets Tuesday afternoon, Trump said he had just spoken with the crown prince, “who totally denied any knowledge of what took place in their Turkish Consulate.” He added the prince “told me that he has already started, and will rapidly expand, a full and complete investigation into this matter. Answers will be forthcoming shortly.” Shortly after Trump’s tweets, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) opined that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin “should not be going to Riyadh,” where he is scheduled to attend an investment conference next week. A growing number of media companies, including CNN, have announced they will no longer participate in the event, which is scheduled to start Oct. 23. Speaking to reporters Monday after talking to the king, Trump suggested “rogue killers” could have been responsible for


Inside the D.C.-area’s most expensive homes for sale in October

We compiled a list of some of the most expensive homes for sale in the Washington area using data from Rockville-based multiple-listing service Bright MLS. Listings range from $4.5 million for a Georgetown rowhouse with a swimming pool to $18 million for a Georgetown estate where Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) once lived. • 1607 28th St. NW, Washington $18 million Agent: Daniel Heider, TTR Sotheby’s International Realty Known as Brooke House, this Georgetown estate was once part of the adjacent Evermay estate. The property, built in 1887 and fully renovated in 2005 by architect Christian Zapatka, was Kennedy’s home in the 1960s. The nearly 10,000-square-foot house has six fireplaces, eight bedrooms and 11 bathrooms. The main level has both formal and informal entertaining spaces, a great room with a coffered ceiling and floor-to-ceiling windows with transoms and a mahogany study with floor-to-ceiling bookcases. Other spaces include a wine cellar, a massage room and a game room. The grounds include terraces, a courtyard, gardens and off-street parking for 11 cars. • 10501 Chapel Rd., Potomac $9.25 million Agent: Fouad Talout, Long & Foster Real Estate This 25,000-square-foot mansion in Potomac, built in 2009, includes nine bedrooms, eight fireplaces and 16 bathrooms. The house sits on nearly four acres and includes a pool, a hot tub and a pool house, along with a heated driveway and garage parking for five cars. The interior has marble flooring in the two-story foyer, which has a double staircase, ceiling designs by an artisan who worked on Buckingham Palace and formal and informal entertaining spaces as well as three kitchens and a separate entrance and living space for staff. • 607 Oronoco St., Alexandria $7.65 million Agents: Robert Hryniewicki, Adam Rackliffe, Christopher R. Leary of HRL Partners with Washington Fine Properties Built in 1795, this property is a Virginia landmark listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the boyhood home of Robert E. Lee. The completely renovated house sits on a half-acre site with gardens and a detached two-car garage with a studio above it. The house has more than 8,000 square feet with six bedrooms, six bathrooms and six fireplaces. The main level has a formal living room, a formal dining room, a family room and a breakfast room off the kitchen. This house was listed for sale in May for $8.5 million. • 3147 P St. NW, Washington $7.495 million Agent: Nancy


Trump team makes controversial change to allow chicken plants to operate at faster speeds

the right to operate at faster speeds because they were part of a pilot program. FSIS approved five more plants to operate at the high rate shortly after the Sept. 28 notice. The two largest chicken producers in the United States, Tyson Foods and Pilgrim’s Pride, which control nearly half the market, already have several waivers each. A USDA spokesman said the agency has “taken unprecedented steps to increase transparency to the public” by outlining what it takes to get a waiver. In September 2017, the National Chicken Council asked FSIS to eliminate the speed limit entirely for companies that are in compliance with safety standards. When the USDA asked for comment about ditching the limit, more than 100,000 responses poured in, including several thousand from poultry workers begging the government not to do this. Protesters appeared outside the USDA building in diapers, saying the chicken-processing lines are already moving so quickly that workers don’t have time for bathroom breaks. In January, the USDA said that it would keep a speed limit in place but that it planned to set up a waiver process that would be accessible to all companies, not just those that were part of the pilot program. Activists thought there would be a proposed rule followed by another comment period, but the USDA published initial criteria in February in a department newsletter and then published the final rules Sept. 28. The typical pay for a poultry-processing worker is about $25,000 a year, according to the Labor Department, and many reports have shown that the chicken industry is increasingly using immigrants and refugee labor in its plants. The Obama administration decided to cap the line speed at 140 birds per minute after extensive research and consultation, Berkowitz said. The industry counters that injury rates have fallen substantially in the past two decades and that safety improvements are ongoing. The USDA said safety is of top importance, but the job of overseeing working conditions falls to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which is part of the Labor Department. “While FSIS agrees that working conditions in poultry slaughter establishments is an important issue, the agency has neither the authority nor the expertise to regulate issues related to establishment worker safety,” the USDA said in the Federal Register notice. Read more: ‘It seems like a publicity stunt’: Why Amazon’s new $15 wage is facing backlash White workers now in


Saudi-supported cultural festival goes forward at Smithsonian

A two-day celebration of Arab culture funded by a state-owned Saudi Arabian oil company opens Saturday at the Smithsonian, just as pressure mounts for organizations to sever ties with the nation. Saudi Aramco donated $175,000 for the Arab Culture Weekend and other family programs at the Freer and Sackler galleries, the Smithsonian’s Asian art museums. The event opens amid an international backlash against Saudi leaders following the Oct. 2 disappearance and alleged killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The writer was last seen entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. Saudi Aramco has given $2.8 million to the world’s largest museum complex since 2013, including $1.5 million from 2016 through this year for a conservation biology program with the Saudi Wildlife Authority, according to the Smithsonian. And earlier this year, the Smithsonian signed an agreement with the company to collaborate on cross-cultural programs, including some at the new King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, a center funded by Aramco. Smithsonian Secretary David J. Skorton said relationships such as these are important for cultural and scientific understanding. “Global cultural organizations, like the Smithsonian, must foster dialogues and meaningful relationships with countries around the world, even when we disagree with their governments’ actions and policies,” Skorton said in a statement. “These collaborations provide critical insights and accelerate our collective efforts to create a global community and expand scientific understanding.” However, a request for funds to continue the existing conservation project has been put on hold in light of allegations that Saudi government officials killed and dismembered Khashoggi in Turkey after failing to lure him to Saudi Arabia. Khashoggi, who was writing for The Washington Post, was living in the United States. “The recent developments in Turkey and Saudi Arabia highlight the challenges that exist even in cultural exchanges. We will continue to assess our current and future collaborations,” said Skorton, who toured the Dhahran arts center with Saudi officials last year. The weekend festival is the most recent collaboration between Saudi Aramco and the Freer and Sackler galleries. “Roads to Arabia,” a landmark exhibit about the history and archaeology of Saudi Arabia, debuted at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in 2012. The festival will proceed, with several concerts, a film, children’s programs, gallery tours and a presentation about Arab and Islamic food scheduled for Saturday and Sunday. There are no plans to refund the Saudi donations, a Smithsonian spokeswoman said.


The Daily 202: Kathleen Sebelius stumping with Democrats highlights the rapidly changing politics of health care

to come up with a solution. LAUNCH DAY: GET SMART FAST: WHERE'S JAMAL? -- “Turkish investigators were permitted to search Saudi Arabia’s consulate on Monday, 13 days after journalist Jamal Khashoggi vanished while visiting the mission, as President Trump dispatched Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to discuss the case with King Salman, the Saudi ruler,” “U.S. officials began predicting over the weekend that the Saudis would inevitably admit complicity in the death of Khashoggi and claim a ‘botched operation,’ said one person familiar with the discussions. Over the past few days, Saudi officials have discussed issuing a statement that, in part, would mention a botched operation and call for the punishment of culpable officials, according to another person with knowledge of the discussions. “Speaking to reporters, Trump said Monday that he had talked for about 20 minutes with the king and that Salman had firmly denied the kingdom’s involvement in Khashoggi’s disappearance. ‘I don’t want to get into his mind, but it sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers,’ Trump added. ‘Who knows? We’re going to try getting to the bottom of it very soon, but his was a flat denial.’ It was not clear whether Trump’s mention of ‘rogue killers’ was his own speculation, a theory he had heard from the king or an intended confirmation that Khashoggi was killed in the consulate, as Turkish investigators have concluded. . . . Khashoggi’s family issued a statement Monday urging an ‘independent and impartial international commission’ to look into his disappearance.” Pompeo has arrived in Riyadh for the talks about Khashoggi’s disappearance. -- Two more Washington lobbying firms dropped the Saudis as a client. -- The heads of the asset management giants BlackRock and Blackstone Group have joined other business leaders in abandoning a Saudi investment conference. THE DOMESTIC AGENDA: -- A federal judge in L.A. dismissed Stormy Daniels’s defamation lawsuit against Trump, delivering a blow to the adult-film star and particularly her lawyer, Michael Avenatti, in their ongoing legal crusade against the president. -- Trump promised to ask Congress for additional emergency disaster aid, as he and the first lady traveled to Florida and Georgia to view some of the devastation caused by Hurricane Michael. -- The federal deficit is swelling despite Republican promises that corporate tax cuts would generate new revenue, which is not materializing. -- Former Senate Intelligence Committee staffer James Wolfe pleaded guilty


Trump is brutal authoritarians’ best advocate

most infamous human rights abuser, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. “Great personality and very smart — good combination,” Trump said after the Singapore meeting. “I learned that he’s a very talented man. I also learned that he loves his country very much.” Last month at a rally in West Virginia, he gushed that “We fell in love, okay? No, really — he wrote me beautiful letters, and they’re great letters.” Thus, Trump’s willingness this week to echo the Saudis’ denials of responsibility in the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi is hardly unprecedented. He is well practiced in echoing the moral equivalence and out-and-out lies of brutal autocrats. On Monday, after speaking with King Salman, Trump insisted, “I don’t want to get into his mind, but it sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers. Who knows? We’re going to try getting to the bottom of it very soon, but his was a flat denial.” Just like Putin, Salman can bet his denials will be taken as gospel by Trump. Before the day was out, reports circulated that the Saudis — who had insisted for more than a week that Khashoggi had left the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul — would confess that he was killed, but as part of a rogue operation. Gosh, Salman might not have been altogether candid with Trump. The Saudis’ new defense apparently will be that, sure, they just grabbed Khashoggi and interrogated him (oh yes, and sent in a 15-person squad with a bone-saw in hand), but any killing was strictly off-limits. One can almost hear Trump declare, “The crown prince denies he knew anything about it!” I am reminded that Trump’s former campaign chairman, now-convicted felon Paul Manafort, infamously represented the “torturers’ lobby” before landing on the Trump team. His clientele included unsavory characters who others wouldn’t touch — “dictators, [guerrilla] groups, and despots with no regard for human rights — including one man responsible for mass amputations, and another who oversaw state-sanctioned rape.” Manafort got rich from representing such characters. Trump, by contrast, doesn’t charge for his services to the world’s thugs, at least not that we know of. Instead, he is paid back in praise and ego-stroking. (If the Trump family has financial interests to benefit, well, that’s just a bonus.) Trump seems to relish providing cover for autocrats’ crimes, abuses and denials of the same. No calumny is


The Las Vegas massacre puts a post-9/11 law to the test

liability. After the 9/11 attacks, it wasn't feasible to leave the unprepared status quo intact; companies needed to be encouraged to join the anti-terrorism effort. The Safety Act was intended to give companies that certainty. The government requires the seller of a qualified anti-terrorism technology to purchase insurance up to a level that does not make its deployment financially prohibitive. The company's overall liability from an act of terrorism is capped at that insurance level. The act also consolidates all lawsuits against a DHS-designated seller, brings the legal action under federal jurisdiction and prohibits suits brought against anyone but the seller. The Safety Act also limits liability to actual damages and prohibits punitive or other ancillary damages. If, say, the maker of a chemical-agent sensor approved by the DHS wants to sell the technology to a third party, such as the owner of a sports arena, the arena owner needs to know that he or she isn't also incurring a liability risk. Otherwise, the arena owner wouldn't buy the sensor, and the venue would go unprotected from a chemical attack. Acquiring the DHS's Safety Act protection isn't easy. A technology provider must supply data from laboratory and field tests, personnel training and other measures to show that the technology has an effective anti-terrorism use. Technical experts in the DHS's Science and Technology Directorate review the data. If the technology provider passes through that wicket, an economic analysis estimates how the cost of liability insurance would affect the cost of the technology and then sets the appropriate level of liability insurance. Based on this information, the DHS undersecretary for science and technology may deny the application, approve it for "designation" or, in some cases, approve it for "certification," which extends government immunity to the provider for certain claims. Will the Las Vegas shooting be designated a terrorist attack? It is noteworthy that the Safety Act's criteria for declaring an act of terrorism do not include the attacker's motivation. The law is intended to guard against mass-casualty attacks; determining the liability risk shouldn't depend on figuring out why an attacker started killing. Since 2002, hundreds of technologies fostered by the Safety Act have been deployed to safeguard the American public. The Las Vegas attack is the law's first test. How the case is decided will establish precedents and judicial doctrine affecting the law's continuing usefulness. That should be done with great care.


Five kids in Maryland may have a polio-like disease, as CDC investigates

Health officials said five kids in Maryland are believed to have contracted a virus this fall that has symptoms similar to polio. The state’s health department said the five reported cases of acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) also are being investigated by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and are among dozens of cases the federal health agency is looking into across the country. In an email Tuesday, Maryland Department of Health spokeswoman Brittany Fowler said the CDC will “make a determination about the status of the cases” in Maryland “based on clinical and laboratory information.” The CDC referred calls to individual state health departments. Kate Fowlie, a spokeswoman for the CDC, said in an email that many states are voluntarily reporting their data on the disease and that “many parents are coming forward to tell their stories.” Maribeth Brewster, the director of the Virginia Department of Health, said no known cases of AFM have been reported in the commonwealth. Three cases of the disease were confirmed in the state in 2016. Tom Lalley, the director of the D.C. Office of Communications and Community Relations, said there were no known cases of AFM among District residents in 2017 or 2018. Maryland health officials said their first case was reported Sept. 21. More than 120 confirmed or possible cases of the mysterious and rare condition have been documented so far this year, mostly since August, a top federal health official said Tuesday. That’s up from 22 people who were said to have it in 2015. Most of the cases involve children, officials said. In 2014 the CDC said there was a spike in the AFM virus, with 120 people afflicted with it from August to December of that year in 34 states. AFM affects a person’s nervous system, according to the CDC website, mainly in the spinal cord, and can present polio-like symptoms, including weakness and pain in the arms and legs. Other symptoms may include trouble moving the eyes, drooping eyelids or facial droop and weakness. A person can also have slurred speech and problems with swallowing. The cause of most of the AFM incidents is unknown, according to the CDC, as are the long-term effects. Officials said some patients diagnosed with AFM recover quickly, while others need ongoing care. Benjamin Greenberg, a neurologist who has treated children with AFM at the University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas, said


Local Digest: Maryland man found fatally shot in vehicle in SE Washington

THE DISTRICT Man found fatally shot in vehicle in SE A man was found fatally shot inside a vehicle Monday in Southeast Washington, police said Tuesday. Ferdinand Fotachwi, 28, of Lanham, Md., was found about 7:30 p.m. in the 5300 block of D Street SE, suffering from gunshot wounds, police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The vehicle’s engine was running, according to a police report. — Michael Brice-Saddler Three attacked by rabid raccoon Three people in upper Northwest Washington are being treated after being attacked by a rabid raccoon, D.C. health officials said. The D.C. Health Department said in a statement Monday that the raccoon was caught in the Chevy Chase neighborhood and euthanized. The city’s public health laboratory said the animal tested positive for the rabies virus. The health department said two pets were also exposed to the animal. The pets were evaluated by a veterinarian, given booster shots of rabies vaccine and remain confined. The people began to receive treatment to prevent infection. Rabies can be fatal if left untreated. — Martin Weil VIRGINIA Ex-sheriff's-deputy charged in sex assault A former sheriff’s deputy in Fairfax County has been arrested and charged in the sexual assault of a former inmate, officials said. Keith Washington, 47, of Stafford, Va., is charged with one count of sexual battery and one count of carnal knowledge of an inmate, according to Fairfax County police. Police said they were contacted by the internal affairs bureau of the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office in August 2017 about an incident in which a former inmate said she was sexually assaulted by Washington. The woman said the incident happened in December 2016 or January 2017. Police obtained an arrest warrant Tuesday, and Washington turned himself in to authorities. He is being held without bond. Andrea Ceisler, a spokeswoman for the sheriff’s office, said Washington had worked for the agency for 12 years and was relieved of his duties Aug. 13, 2017, amid an internal investigation. — Dana Hedgpeth


Whether Trump has financial interests *in* Saudi Arabia, he has plenty *with* the country

The Trump Organization is largely a black box. A privately held company now one step removed from President Trump, its finances are mostly hidden from public view. To figure out what web of financial connections exists within its corporate walls, we’re left examining its fingerprints: the publicly announced deals, sales and connections. That works to the president's advantage. Releasing his complete tax returns would give significant insight into the company, but since Trump has refused to release those documents we're left instead with his federally mandated personal financial disclosures. Those show what he owns and a broad range of their value, but not a whole lot else. We are left, then, taking Trump's word for it when he says things like this. The question of whether Trump has financial interests has risen to prominence in recent weeks as questions have emerged about the disappearance of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. It’s increasingly believed that Khashoggi, a Saudi citizen living in the United States, died at a Saudi consulate in Turkey at the hands of agents acting on behalf of the Saudi Arabian government. Khashoggi was a regular critic of the Saudi government and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, often referred to as MBS. If Khashoggi’s columns were a headache the Saudi government was hoping to eliminate, his death created a new, bigger one. But Trump has been remarkably passive in his treatment of the crown prince, mirroring his hands-off approach to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump has given the Saudi government broad deference in accepting its official story, telling reporters on Monday that the Saudis denied having Khashoggi killed. It was the same language he used in Helsinki in July when informing the world that Putin denied interfering in the 2016 election. As with Russia, many have therefore questioned what’s in that Trump Organization black box. Are there business ties we don’t know about? Trump assures us that there are not — or, at least, that there are none in Saudi Arabia. That plays down the extensive business ties between the Saudis and Trump and his family that we already know about. The Post outlined a number of those ties earlier this month, after Khashoggi vanished. At a campaign rally in 2015, Trump articulated the specific conflict that he denied on Tuesday morning. "Saudi Arabia, I get along with all of them,” he said. “They buy apartments from me. They


Nine issues Mike Pompeo could press the Saudi leadership on while he is in Riyadh

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Riyadh early Tuesday for talks with Saudi officials, including King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The visit comes as the United States and other nations are demanding answers on the disappearance of Saudi Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi on Oct. 2. He was last seen entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. While Saudi Arabia has so far denied any involvement, Turkish authorities believe that the prominent writer who was living in exile in the United States was killed inside the consulate. Trump has given Pompeo license to travel anywhere he deems necessary to reach a conclusion on the writer’s fate, but there is no lack of pressing issues to justify Pompeo staying in Riyadh a bit longer than planned. Here’s a list of only some of the unanswered questions for the Saudi leadership. What happened to Jamal Khashoggi? Despite King Salman’s reassurances, the kingdom is under growing pressure to explain how Khashoggi disappeared inside its consulate and whether he was killed. Are you serious about this investigation? There are reasons to doubt that the Saudis are serious about their offered cooperation with Turkish investigators, including an especially bizarre moment on Monday. Hours before Turkish investigators were for the first time allowed to search the Saudi premises, a cleaning crew arrived at the consulate’s door as journalists from all over the world were watching. If confirmed, how do you explain that Khashoggi’s death is the result of a “botched operation”? After two weeks of denials, any explanation that Khashoggi was accidentally killed would probably be seen as a halfhearted coverup in the United States and Europe. Was the Lebanese prime minister’s strange resignation last year the result of another such Saudi operation? Last November, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri surprisingly resigned during a stay in Saudi Arabia, which immediately sparked speculations over his freedom of movement. Hariri later put his resignation on hold and returned to Lebanon. Others whom the Saudi leadership had issues with never made it back to their countries of residence. What happened to other Saudi activists critical of your leadership? As my colleague Amanda Erickson summarized, Khashoggi is only the latest Saudi critic to mysteriously disappear. At least three other Europe-based Saudi nationals have been kidnapped since 2014. Their fate is uncertain. Do you still want to turn Qatar into an island? Saudi Arabia’s regional foe, Qatar, on


We must demand accountability for Saudi Arabia’s behavior

Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi made a habit of tracking down and assassinating his critics overseas. That helped his country to earn the status of a rogue state. This time, though, the culprit is Saudi Arabia, a long-standing U.S. ally and linchpin of the Trump administration’s Middle East policy. The likely murder of Saudi journalist (and Post columnist) Jamal Khashoggi should trigger a fundamental review of the nature of the United States’ alliance with the Saudis. Reports indicate that Saudi Arabia dispatched a hit squad that brazenly abducted and murdered Khashoggi, a U.S. resident, in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul — simply because he regularly criticized his government in public. The Saudis have issued blanket denials and refused to provide any evidence to the contrary, arrogantly assuming they don’t owe us an explanation. When I came to Congress a little more than 10 years ago, support for Saudi Arabia was broad and bipartisan. But now, as the new crown prince engages in increasingly reckless behavior, more and more of us are wondering whether our ally’s actions are in our own best interests. The list of erratic actions from Mohammed bin Salman is long: the jailing of royal family members, the detention of the Lebanese prime minister, a nonsensical feud with Qatar, the growing internal repression of political speech and the disastrous war in Yemen. These counterproductive moves have been met with increasing criticism on Capitol Hill and have prompted new questions about the Saudi project that is perhaps most damaging to global security: the decades-long effort to sow across the world the seeds of Salafist Islam, often a crucial ingredient of the Sunni extremism that fuels terrorist groups such as the Islamic State and al- Qaeda. This administration appears unlikely to take decisive action, so it’s up to Congress to determine the consequences. One of those consequences must be ending our military assistance, which has given the Saudis free rein in the ongoing horror in Yemen. For the past three years, the United States has been helping Saudi Arabia carry out a devastating bombing campaign in Yemen against a local insurgency by Houthi rebels. Time after time, horrific reports detail U.S.-made bombs dropping on civilian buses, weddings, funerals and medical facilities. The war has killed thousands of civilians and led to a


Who needs Saudi Arabia?

SAUDI ARABIA, so far, has tried bluster and bullying to silence the questions about journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who disappeared in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul two weeks ago Tuesday. On Sunday, a regime statement threatened to “respond with a larger action” to any sanction stemming from the case; Saudi-owned media floated such steps as cutting back oil production, buying arms from Russia and holding back counterterrorism intelligence. On Monday, King Salman told President Trump in a phone call that he “denies any knowledge of what took place,” according to Mr. Trump, who added “it sounded to me like maybe it could have been rogue killers.” That preposterous suggestion may have anticipated a change in the Saudi story; CNN reported that the regime was preparing to admit that Mr. Khashoggi died in an interrogation gone wrong. If so, there must be consequences not just for those who supposedly erred in killing the journalist but also for whomever ordered the illegal operation in the first place. U.S. intelligence intercepts suggest the order came from Mohammed bin Salman, the reckless crown prince whose excesses had been criticized by Mr. Khashoggi in columns for The Post. We expect to learn more soon: Whatever happened to Mr. Khashoggi appears to have been recorded on video or audiotape. In the meantime, it’s worth considering just how much the United States might have to lose if its relationship with Saudi Arabia ruptured. What about that oil, and the $110 billion in arms purchases Mr. Trump keeps talking about? What about the war on terrorism? Start with the oil. Saudi Arabia, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, supplied 9 percent of U.S. petroleum imports in 2017, or about 960,000 barrels a day. But thanks to the shale revolution, the United States is essentially energy independent: It, not Saudi Arabia, is now the world’s largest crude-oil producer. Last year, U.S. daily oil exports averaged 6.38 million barrels, or nearly seven times the Saudi imports. If the Saudis cut back production or boycotted the United States, they could temporarily drive up prices, but the beneficiaries would be U.S. shale companies, which over time would fill the gap — and deal a devastating blow to the Saudi oil industry. As for arms sales, someone needs to brief Mr. Trump on the actual results of the promises made to him when he visited Riyadh last year. As Bruce Riedel of the


After journalist vanishes, focus shifts to young prince’s ‘dark’ and bullying side

and arrests leaving the secure chats rooms where they once shared information. “A large number are in prison. Some are afraid. Some completely disappeared, and we know nothing about them,” he said in an interview in his London office a few days before Khashoggi’s disappearance. It is not just dissidents who have gone quiet. In the hyper-nationalist environment the crown prince has nurtured, there is no benefit to sticking one’s head up, whatever the topic. “Everyone wants to prove that he or she is a patriot,” said one well-known political analyst in Saudi Arabia. “There is no tolerance.” The analyst had not easily come to that conclusion, and had cheered Mohammed’s most significant reforms, including his decision to strip power from the religious police who had enforced moral codes. “Mohammed bin Salman had all the chances,” the analyst said. But “when you are surrounded by people who show no dissent, then you stop listening,” the analyst added. Mentoring the prince Mohammed bin Salman is one of countless cousins descended from the progeny of Saudi Arabia’s founder, Abdulaziz ibn Saud. He is the eldest son of his mother, herself the third wife of Abdulaziz’s son Salman. Mohammed’s father spent much of his career as the governor of Riyadh province and was known as a peacemaker among his own often-fractious group of brothers, several of whom preceded him as king. While many royal males are educated abroad and rise in the Saudi military, or both, Mohammed attended King Saud University at home and quickly became a senior political aide to his father. When Salman ascended to the throne in 2015, after the death of his brother, Abdullah, he appointed MBS, already a minister of state, to the post of defense minister. It was then that Mohammed first came to the attention of the upper echelons of the Obama administration. “Our theory of MBS was that he was to some extent an inevitability, particularly after it became clear he was contesting the second or third spot” for succession under the king, said one senior Obama diplomat. Then-Secretary of State John F. Kerry tried to build what he considered a mentoring relationship with the young prince, then in his 20s. “He knew he was a young guy and that he would make mistakes,” the diplomat said of Mohammed. “He said he wanted to be told when we disagreed.” Mohammed “was a policymaker, and we


Virgin’s Richard Branson, tech investor Steve Case distance themselves from Saudi Arabia over alleged Khashoggi killing

Western business leaders, including Virgin Group founder Richard Branson and tech investor Steve Case, on Thursday distanced themselves from Saudi Arabia over the disappearance and alleged killing of Saudi dissident and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Their statements are a setback for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has portrayed himself as a reformer intent on modernizing Saudi society and opening it to more foreign investment. The Turkish government has told U.S. officials it has audio and video recordings proving Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul this month. Branson said he was suspending his work as a director of two Saudi tourism projects and suspending discussions with the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund about a proposed investment in the space companies Virgin Galactic and Virgin Orbit. “I had high hopes for the current government in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and it is why I was delighted to accept two directorships in the tourism projects around the Red Sea,” Branson said in a blog post Thursday. “What has reportedly happened in Turkey around the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, if proved true, would clearly change the ability of any of us in the West to do business with the Saudi Government. We have asked for more information from the authorities in Saudi and to clarify their position in relation to Mr. Khashoggi.” Case said he was putting on hold plans to attend a big investment conference in Riyadh later this month, and to participate in a Saudi tourism project. The website for the Future Investment Initiative conference, taking place Oct. 23-25 in Riyadh, shows dozens of top Western business officials scheduled to attend as speakers. It also lists more than a dozen Western companies as “partners” of the event. Viacom Inc. chief executive Bob Bakish, who was listed among the speakers, said through a spokesman Thursday he would no longer be attending the conference. Earlier Thursday, Viacom said it was “aware of the reports regarding Jamal Khashoggi” and “monitoring the situation closely.” Another scheduled speaker, Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi, said in a statement Thursday that he was also withdrawing, and that he was “very troubled” by the reports about Khashoggi. “We are following the situation closely, and unless a substantially different set of facts emerges, I won’t be attending the FII conference in Riyadh,” Khosrowshahi said. The companies’


Morning Bits: Trump administration won’t get tough with the Saudis

On Honduras, President Trump can be a tough guy, but not when it comes the Saudis. “President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to cancel aid to Honduras unless a group of Honduran migrants making its way toward the United States is stopped and returned to its home country.” It’s tough to think of another president who autocrats snowed with such ease. “Trump: Saudi crown prince ‘totally denied any knowledge’ of what happened to Jamal Khashoggi.” Thunk. Is it that tough to get money from other places? “As international backlash grows over Saudi Arabia’s alleged involvement in the possible murder of a journalist, Silicon Valley faces a potentially unsettling fact: The kingdom is now the largest single funding source for U.S. startups.” That’s a tough break, because the administration already alienated the Europeans. “White House officials are worried that the apparent killing of the dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and Saudi Arabia’s changing account of his fate, could derail a major showdown with Iran and jeopardize plans to enlist Saudi help to avoid disrupting the oil market. Officials said the dilemma comes at a fraught moment for the Trump administration, which is expected to reimpose harsh sanctions against Iran on Nov. 5, with the intent of cutting off all Iranian oil exports.” Gosh, if only someone had warned the administration not to put all its eggs in the Saudis’ basket. Tough This is tough to defend. “Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blamed rising federal deficits and debt on a bipartisan unwillingness to contain spending on Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, and said he sees little chance of a major deficit reduction deal while Republicans control Congress and the White House. ‘It’s disappointing, but it’s not a Republican problem,’ McConnell said.” When you control everything, it is your problem. Tough


Suspects in disappearance of Khashoggi linked to Saudi security services

Three days before Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrived in the United States earlier this year for a nationwide tour, another Saudi traveler who identifies online as a member of the Saudi Royal Guard also arrived in Washington, passport records show. His stay overlapped with that of the prince. Two times before that, this traveler had made other trips to the United States that coincided with visits by top members of the Saudi royal family, including King Salman and another one of his sons. That same traveler, Khalid Aedh Alotaibi, has now appeared on a list provided by Turkish officials of 15 Saudis who Turkey alleges participated in the disappearance and alleged killing of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate on Oct. 2. On Tuesday, Turkish officials provided passport scans for seven members of what they called a hit squad, and that information helped confirm Alotaibi’s travels to Washington. Alotaibi is one of 11 Saudis included on the list who have ties to the Saudi security services, according to their posts on social media, emails, local media reports and other material reviewed by The Washington Post. Two weeks after the disappearance of Khashoggi, a contributor to The Washington Post’s Global Opinions section and critic of the Saudi government, there is mounting scrutiny of the 15 men identified by Turkey as members of the Saudi team involved in his death. Turkey released the list as a way to demonstrate Saudi involvement in the killing. According to the Turkish account and flight information, the 15 men arrived in Istanbul on Oct. 2 — most of them early in the morning — and then departed in the hours after Khashoggi’s disappearance. Saudi officials have repeatedly denied any involvement in Khashoggi’s disappearance and say they have no information about his whereabouts. They say he left the consulate shortly after he arrived to obtain a document he needed for an upcoming marriage. Saudi Arabia has made no official statement about the men or said why they may have been in Istanbul on Oct. 2. A report on the Saudi-owned al-Arabiya news channel said the 15 were “tourists” who had been falsely accused. U.S. officials now expect the Saudi government to accept responsibility for the death of Khashoggi in an explanation that shields the powerful crown prince from fault, said a diplomat familiar with the situation. The diplomat spoke on the condition of


Why is the Trump administration cleaning up Saudi Arabia’s mess?

SECRETARY OF STATE Mike Pompeo was said to be pressing in Riyadh on Tuesday for a “thorough, transparent and timely investigation” of the disappearance of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. But the best metaphor for Mr. Pompeo’s diplomacy seemed to be what reporters witnessed outside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, where Mr. Khashoggi was last seen Oct. 2: the arrival of a cleaning crew with buckets, mops and fluids. Mr. Pompeo, who smiled broadly as he greeted Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, appeared less intent on determining the truth than in helping the de facto Saudi ruler escape from the crisis he triggered. The Saudis are said to be preparing a cover story that will attribute Mr. Khashoggi’s murder to the excesses of a team that was dispatched to interrogate him. That would deflect blame from the crown prince, who in fact is believed to have ordered and overseen the operation. President Trump signaled that he is more than ready to assist in that dodge. The president tweeted that in a phone call, the young Saudi leader had “totally denied any knowledge of what took place” — as if that should settle the matter. Mohammed bin Salman grandly declared to Mr. Pompeo, “We face our challenges together — the past, the day of, tomorrow.” “Absolutely,” the grinning U.S. envoy replied. Back in Istanbul, the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appeared more serious about trying to discover the truth. But its probe faced considerable obstacles: Mr. Erdogan told reporters that the investigators who were finally allowed into the consulate encountered freshly painted walls. Turkish sources told the Associated Press they have found more evidence backing up their claim that Mr. Khashoggi, a Post columnist and critic of Saudi rulers, was murdered and dismembered shortly after entering the compound. But the Turks, who put out word that they have an audiotape of the slaying, have made little of their evidence public. The longer they fail to provide full transparency, the more it will appear they are more concerned with what they can gain or lose from the affair. All of this underlines the argument made in a Post op-ed by two senior U.N. officials: The only way to determine the truth about what happened to Mr. Khashoggi is to establish an independent international commission. “The Saudis cannot investigate themselves,” wrote David Kaye, the special rapporteur on freedom of expression, and


The Donald Trump lecture series on ‘innocent until proven guilty’

More Tom Toles on Jamal Khashoggi: Trump’s idea of a ‘clear, transparent’ investigation is a transparent effort to clear his friends Jamal Khashoggi now represents something bigger than his enemies You could almost say the Saudis took lessons from Trump The world must not look away from the assault on free expression


What we know about what the government knows about Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance

States had no advanced knowledge of Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance,” Palladino said. Did the government have knowledge that Khashoggi was at risk by entering the consulate in Istanbul? "We had no advanced knowledge,” Palladino said. The Post also reported that the Turkish government had informed U.S. intelligence officials about audio recordings documenting Khashoggi being killed inside the consulate. The Wall Street Journal offered more information Tuesday, including a time frame of Khashoggi’s alleged killing based on the audio recording and the grim detail that those present when his body was dismembered were told to listen to music to facilitate that task. Palladino, speaking Oct. 10, didn’t say whether such audio existed. On Wednesday, Pompeo similarly declined to say whether he’d heard the purported audio. Neither denied that it existed, although Trump raised questions Thursday about whether it did. Trump’s “rogue killers” line — offered, he said, because of his assessment of what the Saudis knew — suggests that Khashoggi’s alleged killing was a function not of the crown prince’s direction but instead of undirected elements at the consulate itself. A CNN report earlier this week said that the Saudi government would admit culpability and that Khashoggi died after an interrogation by Saudi authorities. (The Journal’s reporting suggests that Khashoggi died within minutes of entering the consulate.) This is undercut severely by reporting identifying a number of the Saudis who traveled to Turkey on Oct. 2, the date of Khashoggi’s disappearance, and who left that evening. Several, The Post reported Tuesday, were linked directly to Saudi security services. One of the people seen entering and leaving the country that day was Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, whom the New York Times identified as a frequent companion or bodyguard to Mohammed during a visit to the United States this year. (That trip included a stop at The Post.) All of this is public reporting from news organizations speaking with government officials or uncovering information from other sources. Although some details may be incomplete, it’s hard to believe that the media is publishing information or details that aren’t already known to U.S. intelligence agencies. Which suggests that Pompeo and Trump also know about them. There's another underlying question: What does Jared Kushner think? Earlier this year, the Intercept reported that Mohammed had told other leaders in the region that he had Kushner, Trump’s adviser and son-in-law, “in his pocket.” Mohammed denied having said that when meeting


The Health 202: The Trump administration is helping to drive down Obamacare costs

rich,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a statement. From Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.): Here's what Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said: OOF: The opioid crisis is a chief concern for rural Americans and on par with economic worries, according to a new poll. A new report from NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found 41 percent of residents in Appalachia said drug addiction or abuse, including opioids, was the biggest problem facing their local communities. That’s compared with 25 percent of people nationwide, 20 percent of people in the Midwest and 24 percent of people in the South. Asked specifically about the top thing facing their families rather than their communities, 27 percent of respondents said financial problems were their main concern, compared with 16 percent who cited health care. “Drug or opioid addiction was cited most often as the most urgent health problem by rural Americans, followed by cancer and access to health care,” NPR’s Joe Neel and Alison Kodjak report. OUCH: The recent surge of a rare polio-like condition is worrying federal health officials, who said yesterday there have been 127 confirmed or suspected cases of acute flaccid myelitis or AFM. “The surge in cases has baffled health officials, who on Tuesday took the unusual step of announcing a change in the way the agency will count cases in the future,” Lena writes. “They also wanted to raise awareness about the frightening condition so parents can seek medical care if their child develops symptoms, and so reports of the illness can be quickly relayed back to the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention].” No cause has yet been identified of the mystery condition. The increase in AFM cases appeared in 2014, when the CDC began tracking the condition. The agency knows of one child who died with the illness in 2017. “Since officials have been unable so far to determine how the disease spreads, they are starting to count suspected cases as well as confirmed to better anticipate increases in confirmed cases over the coming months,” Lena writes. “There is no specific treatment for the disorder, and long-term outcomes are unknown. The rare but serious disorder affects a person’s nervous system, specifically the spinal cord. Neurological conditions like it have a variety of causes, such as viruses, environmental toxins and genetic disorders.” Meanwhile, Maryland’s health department reported


The real Brexit breakdown

been that May would present an outline of a deal on Wednesday, but that, too, has fallen through. European Council President Donald Tusk said on Tuesday that there are “no grounds for optimism” that progress will be made at the summit. The biggest issue, the fate of the Irish border, “looks like a new version of the Gordian knot,” Tusk said, according to the Guardian. “Unfortunately, I cannot see a new version of Alexander the Great.” When Britain leaves Europe, its only land border with an E.U. member state will be the currently open one between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom. Given the still-recent history of violence there — not to mention the considerable cross-border trade — there is little desire to reinstate a hard border with physical checks and customs controls. But no one has yet figured out how to avoid doing so. May has played with the idea of keeping Britain in the E.U. customs regime on a temporary basis, allowing both sides more time to reach a permanent agreement on the border issue. E.U. leaders, meanwhile, have suggested that only Northern Ireland stay in the customs union for the time being, while the rest of Britain leaves. But May’s government depends on the support of the Democratic Unionist Party, a Northern Irish party that balks at the idea of trade barriers that would separate the region from the rest of Britain. Members have suggested they could withdraw their support if such barriers were erected, hobbling May’s already weak rule. The Irish government, meanwhile, has reiterated that a decision on the issue cannot be delayed or deferred. The Irish border is far from the only unresolved issue in Brexit negotiations. But it’s a revealing one, demonstrating how hard it is to find compromises on major issues involving parties with dramatically different interests The Post’s William Booth and Karla Adams have explained how bad a “no deal” Brexit could be: grounded airplanes, massive traffic jams at ports, empty grocery shelves and even shortages of medicine. This may be a worst-case scenario, but there’s no reason to not take it seriously. Indeed, some Brits have already started stocking up on key supplies, much like the “doomsday preppers” we see in the United States. One study recently released by Britain’s Institute for Government suggested there were five scenarios for how things could


Sorry, vegans. If you don’t eat honey, avocados might be off-limits, too.

our favorite fruits and vegetables, but in much of the United States, there are not enough bees to do this job naturally or efficiently. So farmers employ a practice called migratory beekeeping: They truck hives into their fields, where the bees live for short periods to pollinate the crops during the plants’ most fertile window. An in-depth article from Scientific American outlines just how important this practice is to farming and what effect it has on our ecosystem. The magazine estimated that without migratory beekeeping, the United States would lose one-third of its crops. And it does involve cruelty to bees, according to Scientific American: “Forcing bees to gather pollen and nectar from vast swaths of a single crop deprives them of the far more diverse and nourishing diet provided by wild habitats. The migration also continually boomerangs honeybees between times of plenty and borderline starvation. Once a particular bloom is over, the bees have nothing to eat, because there is only that one pollen-depleted crop as far as the eye can see. When on the road, bees cannot forage or defecate. And the sugar syrup and pollen patties beekeepers offer as compensation are not nearly as nutritious as pollen and nectar from wild plants.” Not to mention, the commingling of bees from across the country in the same farms spreads disease, which can lead to colony collapse disorder. But here’s what the debate hasn’t mentioned: Avocados and almonds aren’t the only crops that are pollinated in this manner. Migratory beekeeping is a slippery slope that — for those who wish to avoid it — could change the scope of veganism. Other fruits and vegetables that may be produced through migratory pollination include apples, plums, cherries, alfalfa, blueberries, watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumbers, pumpkin, lettuces, squash and tangerines. Not every item in these categories is produced in this manner, but unless a vegan were to know the practices of the farm of origin, they would have no way of knowing whether bees were exploited in the making of that squash salad. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has a strong stance against honey. “These tiny animals are factory-farmed, much like chickens, pigs, and cows are,” says the organization’s page on honeybees. “Avoid honey, beeswax, propolis, royal jelly, and other products that come from bees.” The PETA website also includes a roundup of “the best vegan recipes for avocado lovers,” including chocolate


How cartoonists are artfully addressing the Jamal Khashoggi story

IT’S BEEN Turkey says that 15 members of a Saudi hit team, many with ties to royal security forces, were involved in the death of Khashoggi, a contributor to The Washington Post’s Global Opinions section and critic of the Saudi government. Meanwhile, President Trump tells the Associated Press that the Saudi kingdom is being judged “guilty until proven innocent” — remarks that could affect Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s planned talks Wednesday with Turkish leaders, one day after he met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. As reporters try to get at the truth of Khashoggi’s disappearance, how do editorial cartoonists tackle such a politically sensitive story about when so much is unproved? “Drawing on the Khashoggi case, with what we know at this time, is, indeed, a challenge,” says Jeff Koterba, staff cartoonist at the Omaha World-Herald. “I’m the business of making an opinion, but I must also adhere to the basic principles of journalism,” Koterba adds. “Therefore, my opinion must always be rooted in the facts. And while it seems pretty obvious that Khashoggi was murdered, at the time of my deadline we still didn’t have confirmation of that.” So the veteran cartoonist has chosen to draw in broader terms. “Instead I focused on Mohammed bin Salman’s brutal human rights record,” Koterba says. “The way he has treated women and activists, for example, is well-documented, so I focused on his human rights violations, at least for this cartoon.” Koterba, who just returned from a cartooning festival in France — at which portraits of slain Charlie Hebdo cartoonists were prominently on display — also is struck by his professional kinship to Khashoggi. “Journalists are constantly under attack around the world, and, as we’ve seen, also in the United States,” he says. “And it certainly doesn’t help matters when we have a president who continually shows hostility to the press.” Kevin Siers He notes that he “might feel differently if I thought Trump was ever interested in actually getting to the truth of something where his interests were concerned. Rather, it’s always about making sure his guys win." “Other than that, as with all Middle East cartoons,” Siers says he tries to avoid “obvious anti-Arab tropes, trying to come up with new images to get my alarm and indignation across.” Jack Ohman, the Pulitzer-winning cartoonist for the Sacramento Bee, chose to focus on the optics of Pompeo’s visit. “When


Trump’s preferred Jamal Khashoggi narrative collides with increasingly grim evidence

For the better part of the last week, President Trump has been building a Saudi-friendly narrative about journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance. He suggested it was “rogue killers” after Saudi King Salman planted that seed in his head. He also rather helpfully and uncritically scaled back the Saudis' denials, noting that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman denied “knowledge” of what happened — though perhaps not necessarily that it happened, as the Saudis initially denied. This all tracks with reports suggesting the Saudis would admit Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributing columnist, was indeed killed in their consulate, but would say it was something of a botched interrogation that wasn’t ordered by the Saudi royal family. But now Trump’s preferred narrative is looking less and less viable. The Saudis have been conspicuously quiet about their version of events — almost as though they’re waiting to see what evidence emerges before deciding what they must admit to. But the evidence at hand increasingly points away from the “rogue killers” theory. As The Washington Post is now reporting, 11 of the 15 Saudis that the Turkish government says were sent to the consulate in Istanbul as part of a hit squad to kill Khashoggi have ties to the Saudi security services. One of them, Khalid Aedh Alotaibi, even came to Washington ahead of the crown prince’s cross-country tour of the United States earlier this year. Not all of these employment situations could be verified (the Saudis haven’t exactly been transparent here), but the more closely these men are linked to the Saudi royal family, the more difficult it is to believe they were freelancing. It’s also difficult to believe someone in those positions would be so careless as to inadvertently kill Khashoggi. The Saudi government isn’t renowned for tolerating insubordination. And now another piece of evidence makes it even more difficult to believe this wasn’t an ordered and orchestrated hit: the audiotapes the Turkish government allegedly has. The reported existence of the tapes has cropped up before, but the New York Times provided additional details Wednesday (including some graphic ones): These tapes have not been reviewed or had their authenticity verified by the media, and it’s not clear that U.S. officials have them and have vetted them. All we know is the Turkish government has told U.S. officials they have them. But if this is an accurate portrayal of what occurred, it’s almost impossible to


Welcome to the first holiday season without Toys R Us

the exit of Toys R Us, we saw this was a huge opportunity and we wanted to prepare for it,” Tritton said. “We didn’t want [shoppers] to feel frustrated about having one less place to shop this season.” Analysts described Target, Amazon and Walmart as the “big three” toy sellers heading into the holidays. But less conventional names are in the game, too. Buzzfeed, the media company, is opening a toy store in New York City. Michaels, the arts and crafts retailer, is stocking hundreds of do-it-yourself crafts and exclusive products. Party City debuted about 50 Toy City stores in tandem with its pop-up Halloween shops, and department stores Kohl’s and J.C. Penney have said they plan to expand their toy selections, too. Even grocery stores are stocking more toys. Looking for a mini firetruck by the flu medicine? Or Cabbage Patch Kids propped up beside actual cabbage? You should be in luck. Tim Hall, chief executive of the analytics start-up Simporter and a former Hasbro executive, said Walmart, Target and Amazon in particular will continue to lock in customers with their sophisticated and expansive websites. And even though other toy sellers may carry an emotional connection that echoes that of Toys R Us, that may not be enough to compete with the e-commerce giants. In the fourth quarter of 2017, about 27 percent of toy sales were online -- higher than the rest of the year -- according to the NPD group. “There was this $11 billion jump ball," Hall said, “and I think the guys that jumped the highest were Amazon, Walmart and Target." (Toys R U had more than $11 billion in revenue in its last fiscal year.) Still, if Toys R Us left behind a void, it may suddenly be too cramped, said Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail. With so many new players rushing to stock the latest games and gadgets, Saunders wonders how those companies will make toy sales part of their long-term strategy -- or not. “I think the other players you’ve got, they’re much more opportunistic,” Saunders said. “It’s just about trying to flex.” Read more: Toys R Us brings back Geoffrey the Giraffe -- and its laid off employees are furious Toys R Us owners set aside millions of dollars for laid-off workers after bankruptcy They opened a registry at Babies R Us. Now, these parents-to-be are in liquidation limbo.


The Daily 202: How Scott Walker is trying to withstand a ‘blue wave’ in Wisconsin

injuring 50 others. GET SMART FAST: THE LATEST ON JAMAL: -- Trump’s remarks to the AP last night were his most concerted defense yet of the Saudis — and put him widely out of step with many world leaders. -- “While Trump had earlier promised to 'leave nothing uncovered' in the case of Khashoggi’s disappearance, he and his administration now appear more eager to contain any damage the incident” could cause for U.S.-Saudi relations. -- Pompeo said he received assurances from Saudi officials that they would hold accountable any wrongdoers connected to Khashoggi’s disappearance accountable. -- At least 11 of the 15 men listed by Turkish officials as suspects in Khashoggi's disappearance have ties to the Saudi security services. “Alotaibi and eight others identified as suspects by Turkish officials appear to have profiles on MenoM3ay — a phone directory app popular in the Arab world — identifying themselves as members of the Saudi security forces, with some claiming to be members of the Royal Guard. … Five of the eight others are repeatedly identified in the app as either officers in the Royal Guard or employees of the royal palace. Two of the Saudis on the list, Naif Hassan S. Alarifi and Saif Saad Q. Alqahtani, are repeatedly identified in the app as even closer to the royal family — specifically as employees of the ‘Crown Prince office.’” -- “One of [the suspects], Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, was a diplomat assigned to the Saudi Embassy in London in 2007, according to a British diplomatic roster. He traveled extensively with the crown prince, perhaps as a bodyguard,” -- Turkish officials said the Saudi agents beat, drugged, killed and dismembered Khashoggi without interrogating him. THE AGENDA: -- The Trump administration abruptly transferred a HUD political appointee to serve as the acting watchdog for the Interior Department — an unusual move that comes amid four ongoing inquiries into Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke -- Bob Mueller is expected to issue key findings in his Russia probe shortly after the midterm elections. -- “The Trump administration is now allowing more chicken-processing plants to operate at faster speeds,” -- State Department spokeswoman and former Fox News host Heather Nauert is being considered as a potential replacement for outgoing U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. -- A caravan of more than 1,000 Honduran migrants continued its trek toward the U.S. border, triggering outrage from Trump who threatened to “withdraw all


Saudia Arabia’s crown prince went a ghastly step too far

David B. Ottaway is a Middle East fellow at the Wilson Center. According to news reports, Saudi Arabia’s leaders might be preparing to announce that journalist Jamal Khashoggi was indeed killed inside the country’s consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. Apparently they plan to explain away his death as a botched abduction attempt carried out by “rogue” killers — an extremely unlikely scenario, given the ruthlessly centralized structure of the Saudi regime. Whatever happens next, it is already clear that Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and de facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman, has gone a ghastly step too far in his ruthless pursuit of absolute power. Khashoggi, 59 at the time of his reported death, was far more than an excellent reporter and analyst of his beloved kingdom. As one of its leading critics (a role that included his stint as a Post columnist), he became a high-profile symbol of the daunting struggle for media freedom throughout the Arab world today. Most ironically, he had respect for the reforms being undertaken by the very Saudi prince who probably gave the orders for his suspected extrajudicial murder. Khashoggi’s unpardonable sin was to call for debate not about the crown prince’s social reforms, which he wholeheartedly supported, but about the crown prince’s stifling intolerance for anyone who cast even a speck of dirt on his highly polished image as the kingdom’s long-awaited savior. I have known Khashoggi for at least two decades, and we were scheduled to have lunch together as soon as he returned from Istanbul to discuss the status of his efforts to obtain a green card allowing him to become a permanent resident in the United States. He had a book project in mind to write at the Wilson Center in Washington, where I am a Middle East fellow after working for 35 years for The Post, including four years as its Middle East correspondent. The Wilson Center had offered him a fellowship, but he needed his green card first. Surprisingly, the book’s focus was not to be on the increasingly controversial crown prince at all. Rather, he wanted to write a primer for the tens of thousands of Saudi students coming to America, explaining what to expect and how to navigate a society so totally different from their own. Khashoggi was a graduate of Indiana State University and a great admirer of U.S. democracy even while well aware of


On Saudi Arabia, what is Fox Business Network waiting for?

Most media organizations that partnered with a Saudi investment conference — the Future Investment Initiative, slated for Oct. 23-25 — needed little more than a nudge to bail on “Davos in the Desert.” As evidence mounted last week that the Saudis were likely responsible for the Oct. 2 disappearance of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi, the New York Times, CNN, Bloomberg, CNBC, the Financial Times and Nikkei all pulled out. Since then, the evidence has mounted. Based on information from a Turkish official, the Associated Press is reporting “certain evidence” that Khashoggi was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, where he’d gone on Oct. 2 to pick up a document that he required to get married. Numerous outlets have reported that the Saudis were preparing to admit that Khashoggi had died in the consulate during a botched interrogation. Now CNN is reporting, based on a Turkish official, that Khashoggi’s body was chopped to pieces. Need any more damning details, Fox Business Network? The cable channel, part of Rupert Murdoch’s news and entertainment empire, remains the lone Western holdout among media partners with the Saudi conference, which is sponsored by the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund, established in 1971 by royal decree. The pullout has been so thorough that the event has folded its media-partner listing. The Erik Wemple Blog has asked Fox Business to explain. All we hear is that the situation remains under review. No explanation as to the network’s thinking. As the Erik Wemple Blog was writing this post, we received an email from the company highlighting the interview by Fox Business’s Trish Regan with President Trump. On the question of whether Trump will run in 2020: Regan one day, a “Fox & Friends” host another day, Sean Hannity the next, Tucker Carlson the day after that, and so on. It’s well documented that Trump has favored the Fox family when it comes to interviews. As the New York Times reported, as of early July, Trump had granted two-thirds of his television interviews since his inauguration to Fox News or Fox Business (a total of 23). The access reaches down into the bureaucracy, too, as Fox News and Fox Business personalities feast on interviews from across the government. BuzzFeed’s Steven Perlberg noted in March 2017 that Fox Business “is now much better positioned to nab key guests or ask questions at presidential press conferences, and the network is


MBS’s rampaging anger will not silence questions about Jamal Khashoggi

Inside his royal palace in Riyadh, Mohammed bin Salman is said to have alternated between dark brooding and rampaging anger in the days after the death of Jamal Khashoggi, as Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, or MBS, as he is widely known, looked for someone to blame for what Turkish officials have said was the journalist’s grisly murder. One possible scapegoat, according to several sources, may be Maj. Gen. Ahmed al-Assiri, the deputy chief of Saudi intelligence. Assiri “has made numerous approaches to MBS on taking actions against Khashoggi and others,” said one source who is familiar with Western intelligence reports. The U.S. government learned last month that Assiri was planning to create a “tiger team” to conduct covert special operations, I’m told, though officials didn’t know the targets. U.S. intelligence also learned, but only after Khashoggi’s disappearance after entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, that the crown prince had told his subordinates this summer that he wanted Khashoggi and other Saudi dissidents brought home. The swirling reports and recriminations surfaced as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited the kingdom on Tuesday and urged King Salman and his son to conduct a “transparent” investigation of the disappearance of Khashoggi, a Post contributing columnist. But such efforts to seek a tidy solution will face rising skepticism in Congress, epitomized by the blast on Tuesday from Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) that “he [MBS] had this guy murdered.” Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, urged MBS last weekend to organize an investigation that could identify the culprit responsible for Khashoggi’s death, two sources told me. The next day, after speaking with the Saudi king, the president said he thought “rogue killers” within Saudi Arabia’s government may have been responsible, seemingly telegraphing a fall-guy strategy. The emerging Saudi narrative appears to be that the palace authorized Khashoggi’s arrest and interrogation but not his murder. This version has some obvious holes: If the goal was “rendition” back to Saudi Arabia (as it is politely termed), then why interrogate him in Istanbul? And why did a forensics expert allegedly join the 15-man Saudi team photographed arriving at Istanbul airport? Finally, will such a Saudi account hold up under intense scrutiny by Congress, the media and, perhaps, U.S. courts? The Khashoggi case isn’t the first time the palace allegedly attempted to kidnap a critic. After one prominent Saudi criticized aspects of the crown


Trump appears to make room for Saudis to deny involvement in Khashoggi disappearance

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — President Trump offered embattled Saudi Arabia a suggestion of support Tuesday amid mounting pressure over the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, saying the kingdom is being judged “guilty until proven innocent.” The remarks, in an interview with the Associated Press, put Trump widely out of step with many world leaders amid Turkish assertions that Khashoggi was killed by a Saudi hit team this month after entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. They also could complicate talks planned Wednesday between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Turkish leaders on the Khashoggi case. “Here we go again with you’re guilty until proven innocent,” Trump told the AP, comparing the situation to allegations of sexual assault leveled against now-Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing. Trump has shifted his views several times since Khashoggi — a Washington Post columnist and U.S. resident — was last seen in public Oct. 2. Trump last week said that Saudi Arabia would face “severe punishment” if the kingdom was found to have a link to Khashoggi’s apparent death. But he appeared to reject possible sanctions, claiming they could harm the United States’ deep defense industry ties with Saudi Arabia. Two weeks after Khashoggi was last seen in public, the case has splintered into an array of conjecture and claims. But Turkish investigators have not wavered in their claims of Saudi involvement. On Tuesday, Turkish authorities sought to expand the scope of their investigation, demanding access to the main Saudi diplomatic residence in Istanbul and vehicles in the consulate fleet. In another possible window into the case, Turkish officials provided The Post with scans of passports that they say were carried by seven men who were part of the suspected 15-member Saudi squad allegedly involved in Khashoggi’s death. The Post published the passport scans but obscured the faces and names of the men because it has not independently verified their identities. Saudi rulers have steadfastly denied any hand in the disappearance of Khashoggi, a Post contributing columnist who had been critical of the Saudi leadership. The next steps on all sides remained unclear. U.S. officials expect the Saudi government to accept responsibility for the death of Khashoggi in an explanation that shields the powerful crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman — the de facto Saudi ruler — from fault, said a diplomat familiar with the situation. The diplomat spoke on the condition


Trump seems eager to contain, not confront, fallout from journalist’s disappearance

nothing uncovered” in the case of Khashoggi’s disappearance, he and his administration now appear more eager to contain any damage the incident could cause to U.S. relations with the oil-rich nation than it is to confront Saudi leaders over the possible murder of a journalist and U.S. resident who wrote critically of the kingdom’s rulers. Khashoggi vanished after entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. Turkish officials have said they believe he was killed inside the building and have demanded answers from Saudi Arabia. The disappearance of Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributing columnist, has led to fierce criticism of the Saudis from members of Congress in both parties. Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) told Fox News on Tuesday that the crown prince is “toxic” and “has got to go” before adding that he plans “to sanction the hell out of Saudi Arabia.” “I can never do business with Saudi Arabia again, until we get this behind us,” Graham said in the interview, saying that nothing of this magnitude could have happened without the crown prince’s knowledge. But the Trump administration has softened its approach to the kingdom in recent days with Trump emphasizing that both Mohammed and his father, King Salman, have denied having any knowledge of what happened to Khashoggi. Pompeo’s trip to Saudi Arabia was the administration’s most visible effort to address a growing diplomatic crisis with implications for Trump priorities in the Middle East and billions in arms sales, but it included no public mention of the writer who vanished. Pompeo said in a statement late Tuesday that he had “emphasized the importance of conducting a thorough, transparent, and timely investigation” into the fate of Khashoggi. “The Saudi leadership pledged to deliver precisely on that.” Pompeo said he is heading to Turkey to meet with senior government leaders. Trump has not threatened any consequences for Saudi Arabia. He has already publicly rejected punitive sanctions or cancellations of military sales to Saudi Arabia, and he has not discussed other potential consequences for the relationship. Vice President Pence, touring hurricane damage in Georgia, told reporters that “we’re going to demand answers,” although he did not say how. “The world deserves answers.” The prince, known by the initials MBS, has forged a close relationship with both Trump and his son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner. Kushner frequently touts the prince’s business smarts and vision for a modernized Saudi Arabia,


What parents should do, and not do, when taking kids to a brewery

The truth is, many breweries want families to come. Julia Herz, the craft beer program coordinator for the Brewers Association, a national trade group, points out that 78 percent of adults now live within 10 miles of a brewery and that it makes sense for them to be welcoming to parents, because “kids will drive the decision” about which ones to visit. “If my kids don’t like it — ‘there’s nothing to do,’ ‘it’s not fun’ — that’s important,” she says. After taking her son fishing in Colorado this year, the duo stopped at Verboten Brewing in Loveland. “Mama needed a beer,” she jokes. “But he and I could play Jenga. That translates.” Whether a brewery enforces adults-only hours, there are simple things families can do to make the experience good for everyone — child-free beer fans included. Do some field research. Not every brewery is built for kids, so it’s worth making a preview visit sans children to get the lay of the land. As Herz says, “If they don’t want to have families, they’re not going to tailor the experience to that. If you see toys and games, it sends a message that ‘everyone is welcome here.’” This is done in different ways: Visitors to Peabody Heights in Baltimore, for example, pass a room with a toybox and shelves of children’s books before they ever see a tap handle. At Northwest Washington’s 3 Stars, the Urban Farmhouse taproom was built with families in mind. Bathrooms have changing tables, and the bar is stocked with arcade games, cornhole sets, Jenga and coloring supplies. “I am completely cool with kids being in taprooms,” co-founder Dave Coleman says. “This is a community gathering space, and we encourage our local community to come here and hang out.” Kid-friendly snacks are on the menu, and teen and preteen bands from the School of Rock play at events. The environment matters, too: If you’ve got an energetic toddler, they’re going to be happier at a place with room to explore, such as Waredaca, which is on a horse farm in Laytonsville, Md., or at Vanish, a Leesburg, Va., brewery that has an outdoor playground with a treehouse and slide, instead of a quasi-industrial facility where they need to stay seated. Keep a close eye on your kids Seems obvious, but it’s the source of much of the conflict over children at breweries. After Union