Day 636: U.S. and Saudi Arabia conspiring to cover up Jamal Khashoggi’s assassination

U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi walked into the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, Turkey on October 2 and was never seen again. The Saudis first claimed they didn’t know what happened to their frequent critic. However, the story has changed and changed since then. Now the explanation has pivoted to an interrogation gone wrong.

Except that the latest details from non-Saudi sources in Turkey indicate that Khashoggi was brutally tortured — including having his fingers deliberately cut off before he was dismembered — in what was a premeditated attack orchestrated by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

That leaves Donald Trump, with his many Saudi financial ties, in an extremely uncomfortable position. Of course, the normal reaction out of a U.S. president to the torture and murder of a journalist would be to, at the very least, condemn the attack. Sanctions and more would almost certainly be a slam dunk for any other administration.

Trump started by saying he wasn’t ready to end an arms deal with the Saudis over the murder. He has since dispatched his secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, to Riyadh to meet with Saudi royalty about the situation. Except that the meeting has appeared jovial, with something nefarious afoot.

The Trump administration and the Saudi royal family are searching for a mutually agreeable explanation for the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi — one that will avoid implicating Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is among the president’s closest foreign allies, according to analysts and officials in multiple countries.

In other words, the Trump administration is coordinating a cover up with the Saudis regarding a journalist’s assassination.

Pompeo told reporters that neither he nor the Saudis were interested in talking about facts.

As if all of that wasn’t damning enough, the Saudis paid the U.S. $100 million Tuesday, allegedly related to the U.S.’s work stabilizing Syria. However, the timing isn’t even trying to appear coincidental. It shows just how desperate the Saudis are to put this issue to bed and how eagerly the Trump administration is willing to help for a price.

636 days in, 826 to go

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