Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Texted Top Aide Before Jamal Khashoggi's Murder

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman sent “at least 11” text messages to a top adviser, who supervised the team that murdered Jamal Khashoggi, within hours of the journalist’s death, according to a secret CIA report revealed by The Wall Street Journal. The messages were sent in the hours before and after Khasoggi's October killing. The CIA assessment also found that as far back as August 2017, Crown Prince bin Salman had reportedly told associates that if they couldn’t convince Khashoggi that he should return to Saudi Arabia, “we could possibly lure him outside Saudi Arabia and make arrangements.” The CIA determined that bin Salman’s comment seemed to “foreshadow the Saudi operation launched against Khashoggi,” who was an outspoken critic of the royal family in his Washington Post columns. Saudi operatives killed Khashoggi on Oct. 2, after he went into the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul to secure paperwork for an upcoming marriage to his Turkish fiancee.

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Andrew Desiderio, Spencer Ackerman, Erin Banco, Noah Shachtman