Saudi Arabia Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told Fox News that the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi was a “tremendous mistake” and part of a rogue operation, adding that his government would punish those responsible for his “murder.”
“The individuals who did this did this outside the scope of their authority,” he told Bret Baier on Sunday. “There obviously was a tremendous mistake made, and what compounded the mistake was the attempt to try to cover up. That is unacceptable in any government.”
Al-Jubeir said that Saudi Arabia was taking action to investigate how Khashoggi died and hold those responsible accountable.
“We are determined to uncover every stone. We are determined to find out all the facts. And we are determined to punish those who are responsible for this murder,” he said.
Al-Jubeir told Fox that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was not aware of the operation beforehand. “Even the senior leadership over intelligence service was not aware of this,” al-Jubeir said.
The comments come a day after US President Donald Trump criticized Saudi Arabia’s explanation of Khashoggi’s death as “all over the place” in an interview with the Washington Post. However, the President also praised bin Salman, calling him a “strong person” with “very good control.”
In the Post article published late Saturday, Trump said that “obviously there’s been deception and there’s been lies,” when asked about Saudi Arabia’s account of the killing of Khashoggi inside their Istanbul consulate almost three weeks ago. “Their stories are all over the place,” Trump said.
But Trump was supportive of the Crown Prince’s leadership and reiterated the importance of economic ties between the two countries.
“He’s seen as a person who can keep things under check,” Trump said of bin Salman, adding, “I mean that in a positive way.”
“He truly loves his country,” said Trump, who added that he hadn’t “heard either way” whether the Crown Prince was responsible for Khashoggi’s killing.
In his interview on Fox News, al-Jubeir said that Prince Salman was not closely tied to the people involved in the operation. Al-Jubeir said Saudi Arabia did not know what happened to Khashoggi’s body and has not heard any audio from inside the consulate.
He cautioned against reaching quick conclusions and told Baier to look up the timeline surrounding the US role at Abu Ghraib prison, the detention center where US soldiers were revealed to have beaten and tortured captured Iraqis during the Iraq War.
“These things take time,” al-Jubeir told Fox News.
Finally, he offered his condolences to Khashoggi’s family.
“We feel their pain. And I wish this didn’t happen and I wish that this could’ve been avoided. Unfortunately, a huge and grave mistake was made. And I assure them, that those responsible will be held accountable for this,” he said.
Many questions, few answers
An increasingly vocal chorus of international voices have to come to question Saudi Arabia’s story.
Saudia Arabia has gone from blanket denials of any involvement to an admission Saturday morning that the journalist was, in fact, killed while visiting the consulate.
On Sunday, the UK, French and German foreign ministers released a joint statement on Khashoggi, noting Saudi Arabia’s preliminary findings but calling for an “urgent need for clarification” on what exactly happened after he entered the consulate on October 2.
“Nothing can justify this killing,” the statement said.
In a speech in Istanbul on Sunday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he would make remarks on the case on Tuesday.
Turkey’s state news agency Anadolu, citing Turkey’s presidential press office, reported early Monday that Erdogan and Trump talked by phone about the Khashoggi situation and “have agreed to shed light on all aspects” of the incident. The White House did not have any immediate comment on the Anadolu report.
A senior US State Department official told CNN that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu Sunday night and once again offered US assistance with the Khashoggi investigation.
The official Saudi line is that Khashoggi died accidentally after a confrontation in the consulate descended into a brawl.
A source with close connections to the Saudi Royal Palace told CNN that Saudis concluded that Khashoggi’s cause of death was a chokehold or strangulation, but officials provided no evidence to support the conclusion.
The altercation involved multiple Saudi officials at the country’s consulate in Istanbul, according to the statement. It said the suspects later tried to cover up the incident.
Meanwhile Turkish officials say 15 Saudis traveled to Istanbul on the day of Khashoggi’s disappearance. They say privately that he was dismembered at the consulate, and Saudi authorities have failed to produce his body or say where they believe it to be.
A source close to the Saudi Royal Palace told CNN that the location of Khashoggi’s body is not known to the Saudis. The source said the body was handed over to a local “collaborator” after the killing, adding that it is not at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. CNN cannot verify the assertion.
‘Give us Jamal’
Speaking to reporters outside Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul on Saturday, Turan Kislakci, the head of the Turkish-Arab Media Association and a friend of Khashoggi, called on Saudi Arabia to hand over the journalist’s body.
“Give us Jamal, so we can have a funeral for him. So that all people who care about him, world leaders, can come here to Istanbul for the funeral,” he said.
Khashoggi’s fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, reacted to the news of his death on Twitter on Saturday evening.
She tweeted footage of Khashoggi speaking and being filmed when a cat unexpectedly jumps into his lap. He looks down and smiles. Khashoggi and the film crew laugh.
“They took your bodily presence from my world,” Cengiz wrote. “But your beautiful laugh will remain in my soul forever.”
The governor’s office in Istanbul on Sunday said Cengiz has been placed under 24-hour protection. Turkish police will carry out the order, state news agency Anadolu reported.
Explanations ‘lack credibility’
While the Trump administration continues to give the Saudi explanation at least some benefit of the doubt, some of the US’ longest-standing allies have been sharply critical of the Kingdom’s version of events.
British minister Dominic Raab said Sunday that the Saudi explanation of Khashoggi’s death was not credible.
“The British government will want to see people held to account for that death,” the minister for Brexit told the BBC’s Andrew Marr show.
Canada released a brief statement, calling Riyadh’s statement into question.
“The explanations offered to date lack consistency and credibility,” Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland said in a statement.
“We reiterate our call for a thorough investigation, in full collaboration with the Turkish authorities, and a full and rigorous accounting of the circumstances surrounding Mr. Khashoggi’s death.
“Those responsible for the killing must be held to account and must face justice.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was “deeply troubled” by the explanation, his spokesman said.
And in a sharp rebuke, German Chancellor Angela Merkel rejected the Saudi statement, saying that her government expected “transparency in terms of death and background. Those responsible must be held accountable. The information given at the consulates in Istanbul is insufficient.”
Merkel said Sunday that her country will halt all exports of weapons to Saudi Arabia while uncertainty surrounds Khashoggi’s death.
“There is an urgent need to clarify what happened,” Merkel said in Berlin.
The European Union, in a statement from its high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, Federica Mogherini, said it insists on “the need for continued thorough, credible and transparent investigation, shedding proper clarity on the circumstances of the killing and ensuring full accountability of all those responsible for it.”
Saudi friends praise ‘transparency’
After Saudi Arabia released the results of its preliminary investigation Saturday, its allies across the region commended it for its “transparency.”
In a statement, UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan “commended King Salman for his great efforts to explore the truth and seek legal accountability, which he said reflects the transparency and justice in his decision-making on the case.”
Similar statements from Egypt, Bahrain, Jordan, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the Palestinian Authority expressed solidarity with the Saudi position.
Turkey: We will not allow a cover-up
Omer Celik, a senior official in Turkey’s ruling political party, also questioned the credibility of Saudi Arabia’s explanation for Khashoggi’s death.
“We are not preemptively blaming anyone but we will also not allow a coverup,” Celik said on Saturday, in the first official Turkish reaction to Saudi Arabia’s midnight statement saying Khashoggi’s death was accidental.
“It is a matter of honor for us that this is uncovered. We will shed light on this using all means we have. That is the will of our President.”
Trump, however, again indicated to journalists that he believed the Saudi account was credible, although he added that some questions remained, including the whereabouts of Khashoggi’s remains.
He has previously defended Saudi Arabia’s King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, saying that the two men had strongly denied knowledge of, or involvement in, Khashoggi’s disappearance.
Senator: Trump position ‘lack of leadership’
Some members of the US Congress were also critical of the Saudi explanation.
“To say that I am skeptical of the new Saudi narrative about Mr. Khashoggi is an understatement,” South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican, said on Twitter.
Senate Intelligence Committee ranking member Mark Warner told CNN the explanation “does not withstand scrutiny and raises more questions than it answers,” and called for a “comprehensive and truly independent investigation.”
“The Trump administration’s position once again demonstrates a lack of leadership, undercutting US leverage, interests and our values.”
Khashoggi’s former employer, the Washington Post, called the Saudi story a “cover-up.”
The publisher and chief executive of the Post, for whom Khashoggi was a contributing columnist, cast doubt on Saudi Arabia’s explanation.
“The government of Saudi Arabia has shamefully and repeatedly offered one lie after another in the nearly three weeks since Jamal Khashoggi disappeared in their Istanbul consulate,” Fred Ryan said in a statement published on Twitter.
“Offering no proof, and contrary to all available evidence, they now expect the world to believe that Jamal died in a fight following a discussion. This is not an explanation; it is a cover-up,” Ryan said.
