CIA chief goes to Turkey amid Khashoggi investigation - media

CIA Director Gina Haspel was traveling to Turkey to help investigate the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Reuters reported with reference to two sources familiar with the matter, as security agencies examined what role Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman may have played in the case.

Khashoggi disappeared after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 to get documents for his forthcoming marriage.

Earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump said he was still not satisfied with what he had heard from Saudi Arabia about the killing.

Saudi Arabia said on Saturday that Khashoggi was killed in a fight in the consulate. A Saudi official later said that 15 Saudi nationals sent to Turkey to confront Khashoggi had threatened him with being drugged and kidnapped and then killed him in a chokehold when he resisted.

Three weeks after Khashoggi disappeared, U.S. and European security agencies still have an incomplete picture of what happened at the consulate.

Six U.S. and Western officials said they believed the crown prince, who is Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, was ultimately responsible for Khashoggi’s disappearance because of his role overseeing the Saudi security apparatus but that they lacked hard proof.

The Western security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they were far from having a complete picture of what happened to Khashoggi. They do not know how he died and where his body was taken.

Despite extensive news leaks alleging that Turkey has audio recordings documenting Khashoggi’s torture and murder, neither U.S. nor allied government agencies had been granted access as of Monday to such evidence, the officials said.

The Western government experts’ confidence that Prince Mohammed had some responsibility for the operation relies heavily on their assessment of the dominant role he plays in running the Saudi government, said two sources familiar with intelligence reports.

But U.S. and allied intelligence reporting that details any specific instructions the crown prince might have issued about the Khashoggi incident is not conclusive, the sources said.