–Trump says doesn’t want to hear Khashoggi’s murder tape
ANKARA: The killers of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi may have taken his dismembered body out of Turkey in luggage, Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar was quoted as saying by broadcaster CNN Turk on Sunday.
Khashoggi, a US resident and Washington Post columnist, was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, sparking global outrage against the kingdom and its de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Riyadh had offered numerous contradictory explanations for his disappearance, before saying Khashoggi was killed after “negotiations” to convince him to return to Saudi Arabia failed.
Speaking at a panel as part of an international conference in Halifax, Canada, Akar said Khashoggi’s killers may have taken the journalist’s body parts out of Turkey in luggage.
“One probability is that they left the country three to four hours after committing the murder. They may have taken out Khashoggi’s dismembered corpse inside luggage without facing problems due to their diplomatic immunity,” CNN Turk cited Akar as saying.
Turkey has said a group of 15 individuals, including a two-man “clean-up team”, was involved and that Khashoggi’s body had been dismembered. Turkish officials have also called for an investigation into whether the body was dissolved in acid.
Saudi public prosecutor Shalaan al-Shalaan said on Thursday that Khashoggi’s body was dismembered, removed from the building and handed to an unidentified “local cooperator”.
More than a month after the murder, Turkey is trying to maintain pressure on Prince Mohammed, releasing a stream of evidence that undermined Riyadh’s early denials.
US President Donald Trump on Saturday called a CIA assessment blaming Prince Mohammed for the killing “very premature” and said he would receive a complete report on the case on Tuesday.
TRUMP DOESN’T WANT TO HEAR KHASHOGGI’S MURDER TAPE:
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has said that he has been fully briefed on an audio recording of journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s murder but does not want to listen to it himself.
“Because it’s a suffering tape. It’s a terrible tape,” he said in an interview with “Fox News Sunday.”
“It was very violent, very vicious and terrible.”
The CIA has reportedly concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman ordered Khashoggi’s assassination in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul October 2.
But the State Department has called those reports “inaccurate,” and Trump on Saturday told reporters that the US would release “a very full report” on the matter as early as Monday. He was interviewed by Fox on Friday.
Asked whether the crown prince had lied to him in denying any role in the killing, Trump said: “I don’t know. Who can really know? But I can say this, he’s got many people … that say he had no knowledge.”
“He told me that he had nothing to do with it. He told me that, I would say, maybe five times at different points, as recently as a few days ago.”
Trump acknowledged that people close to the prince “were probably involved” but added, “I want to stick with an ally that in many ways has been very good.”
Asked whether he would go along with moves in the US Congress to cut off US involvement in the Saudi-led war in Yemen or halt arms sales to the kingdom, Trump equivocated.
“I want to see Yemen end. It takes two to tango and Iran has to end also,” he said. “I want Saudi to stop but I want Iran to stop also.”
