Erdogan: Saudis Painted Over Parts of Istanbul Consulate Where Khashoggi Went Missing

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan claimed early Tuesday that parts of the Saudi consulate in Istanbul—where journalist Jamal Khashoggi was last seen two weeks ago—have been freshly painted over. Turkish police searched the building Monday and, according to Erdogan, there’s been some suspicious recent activity there. “My hope is that we can reach conclusions that will give us a reasonable opinion as soon as possible, because the investigation is looking into many things such as toxic materials and those materials being removed by painting them over,” Erdogan told reporters. Meanwhile, Turkish police have confirmed plans to search the Saudi consul’s Istanbul residence, where Turkish media have reported surveillance cameras captured heavy traffic from the consulate in the hours after Khashoggi disappeared. Late Monday, The New York Times reported Saudi officials were preparing to say the writer was “mistakenly” killed at the site during an interrogation ordered by an intel official who is a close friend of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who had allegedly approved of a harsh questioning. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Tuesday to discuss the case.