Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post journalist, and former Saudi royal insider who began writing articles critical of the Saudi royal family and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in particular, disappeared on October 2 after he went into the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.
Video shows Khashoggi entering the consulate to obtain paperwork to marry his Turkish fiancé but his fiancé, who was waiting for him outside, said he never came out.
It has been widely reported that Turkish authorities believe 15 Saudi men arrived in Istanbul on private planes on October 2 and were connected to the disappearance -- and that they had high-level connections to the Saudi government. To be clear that was 15 men… and a bone saw.
Despite pressure from Turkey, the United States and the entire international community, Saudi officials have, for two weeks now, denied that Khashoggi had disappeared inside their consulate, calling accusations that he was killed there, "lies and baseless allegations."
But in recent days Turkish authorities have indicated they have audio and possibly video recordings of Khashoggi’s apparent torture. Needless to say, the disclosure of such evidence put a huge dent in the Saudi’s already weak attempts at plausible deniability, but they did hold a huge trump card (no pun intended), they happened to be closely allied with the President Trump
President Trump, who along with son in law, boy wonder, Jared Kushner have had some well publicized business dealings with Saudi Arabia and have also permitted a $110 billion arms sale to the Saudi’s which they would like to see completed. Trump claims it’s all about jobs, but greasing the skids for the Saudis certainly wouldn’t hurt any future business opportunities for Trump World.
So it was no surprise that after Trump spoke with the Saudi king on Monday, that he immediately jumped into reality TV mode and began offering up new story lines to throw some shade to the Saudis and thus protect ….all of his transactions.
"It wasn't like there was a question in his mind. The denial was very strong," Trump told reporters outside the White House, adding that the King "firmly denied any knowledge" of what happened to Khashoggi, adding “But his was a flat denial”
Of course he denied it. Why wouldn’t he?
But it gets better. Offering up an alternative to the common belief that Khashoggi was murdered by agents of the Saudi Regime, Trump said that " it sounded like it could be rogue killers,. Who knows?”
Sure, who knows?
Sure, maybe it was Rogue Killers
Or maybe it was China.
Or maybe it was some guy sitting on his bed weighing 400 pounds,
Or maybe it was just deju vu, all over again….
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