The Biden administration released a U.S. intelligence assessment Friday concluding that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved the operation that killed Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, marking another flash point in Washington’s relationship with Riyadh that has already dramatically changed in the first month of the Biden administration.
The report, which the Trump administration repeatedly refused to provide to Congress after Khashoggi’s killing, is based on the crown prince’s control of decision-making in Saudi Arabia, the involvement of close advisor Saud al-Qahtani, and Mohammed bin Salman’s “support for using violent measures to silence dissidents abroad,” such as Khashoggi. But the four-page declassified report provides no specific evidence of the crown prince’s involvement.
