US senators briefed by CIA blame Saudi prince for Khashoggi death

Leading US senators said yesterday that they were more certain than ever that Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman was culpable in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi after receiving a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) briefing on the matter.“The views that I had before have only solidified,” said Senator Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who has called for a strong US reaction to Khashoggi’s death and backs legislation to end all US support for the Saudi coalition waging war in Yemen.Menendez spoke to reporters as he left a closed-door briefing for some Senate committee leaders and Senate leaders by CIA Director Gina Haspel.Senator Bob Corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, shook his head no, when asked if he thought the briefing had changed any minds.“I have zero question in my mind that the crown prince directed the murder and was kept appraised of the situation all the way through it,” Corker said.“You have to be wilfully blind not to come to the conclusion that this was orchestrated and organised by people under the command of MbS,” Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told reporters, also after the briefing, referring to the crown prince by his initials.Khashoggi was a US resident who wrote for the Washington Post.Saudi Arabia has said that 21 people are in custody and vowed to keep probing the killing of Khashoggi, who was killed and dismembered after visiting the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate in October to handle paperwork for his planned wedding.Haspel’s briefing had been criticised for only allowing a limited number of US senators to attend.The decision to limit the number of senators attending the closed-door hearing to only include the leaders of key national security committees came under fire even before the meeting got under way.Senator Rand Paul called the decision “ridiculous”.“Why shouldn’t every senator know what is going on?” he tweeted.If given the chance, he would ask Haspel about media reports that the CIA has concluded that Prince Mohamed “was involved and directed” the killing, he said in an interview on Fox News.Several senators complained last week when Haspel did not join the Senate along with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defence James Mattis at a classified briefing held last week.Their testimony before the full Senate came ahead of a vote on a resolution that that seeks to end US military support to Saudi Arabia in its campaign in Yemen.The resolution later advanced in the Senate allowing for further debate and a possible vote.