Saudi Crown Prince’s enforcer: ‘Bring me the head of the dog’

Donald Trump accuses Saudi Arabia of “worst cover-up ever” as Jamal Khashoggi’s family are summoned to meet the royals.

Turkish police cordon off an underground car park in Istanbul. AFP

Donald Trump has accused Saudi Arabia of the “worst cover-up in the history of cover-ups” with the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

It came as the US said it would revoke the visas of some Saudi officials implicated in Mr Khashoggi’s death.

Stepping up pressure on the Saudi regime, Mr Trump said whoever thought of the idea of killing the Saudi journalist was ‘in big trouble.’

“They had a very bad original concept,” Mr Trump said of the idea of the murder. “It was carried out poorly, and the cover-up was one of the worst in the history of cover-ups. It’s very simple. (The) bad deal should have never been thought of. Somebody really messed up and they had the worst cover-up ever. And where it should have stopped is at the deal standpoint when they thought about it because whoever thought of that idea I think is in big trouble and they should be in big trouble.’

The President did not say what action should be taken if it was found that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the murder of the journalist as he visited the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 2. US intelligence reportedly believes that the killing was carried out with the knowledge of the Crown Prince.

Mr Trump said he would leave the final decision on what action the US would take against Saudi Arabia largely up to Congress.

The move is significant because Mr Trump has said previously he was reluctant to take action which would harm the alliance and business partnership with Saudi Arabia as a result of Mr Khashoggi’s death. However some members of Congress have been more forthright in calling for sanctions to be placed on the desert kingdom.

“I think I am going to leave it pretty much to Congress, Congress has some very strong ideas both ways,” Mr Trump said.

“I’ve been told by certain Senators ‘we want that investment to keep coming’; at the same time that doesn’t mean they are not going to do something, there has to be some kind of retribution, there has to be,’ Mr Trump said.

“I’ve been told by others they don’t want (Saudi) investment of $450 billion, I think that’s foolish but there is some that feel that.’

Mr Trump said he hoped any agreement by Congress on what steps to take against Saudi Arabia would be bipartisan.

The President said he should be fully briefed within a day on what the US knows about the killing when CIA director Gina Haspel returns from her visit to Turkey where she was looking into the circumstances of Mr Khashoggi’s death.

His comments came as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the US would revoke some visas of the Saudi officials allegedly responsible for the death of Mr Khashoggi, who was a columnist with the Washington Post.

The US is under pressure to do more to punish Saudi Arabia after Turkish president Recep Erdogen revealed a chronology of the murder which he said proved that it was a carefully pre-planned event.

Mr Erdogen said a 15-member team of Saudi officials arrived in stages in Istanbul to carry out the killing, and included generals, senior intelligence officers and forensic officials.

“It is clear that this savage murder did not happen instantly but was planned,” he said.

His comments contradict the latest official claim by the Saudis that Mr Khashoggi died in a fist fight which broke out inside the consulate.

Mr Trump initially described that claim as credible but has backed away from it under criticism from Congress.

Khashoggi family meet royals

The family of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi have met the kingdom’s king and crown prince and received their “deepest condolences” for the murder for which the royal family is widely held responsible.

Mr Khashoggi’s brother Sahi Ahmed Khashoggi and his son Salah bin Jamal were asked to a meeting at the Yamana Palace in Riyadh where they met King Salman and Mohammed bin Salman and posed for official photographs with them.

Jamal Khashoggi's son Salah bin Jamal shakes hands with King Salman and (behind) Mr Khashoggi’s brother Sahel Khashoggi meets Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Picture; Saudi Press Agency.

The meeting came as Donald Trump slammed the Saudi operation that killed Mr Khashoggi as one of the “worst cover-ups in the history of cover-ups.”

Amid reports two suitcases were found in a Saudi consulate car in Istanbul, and unsubstantiated reports that body parts have been found, Mr Trump told reporters he is expecting a full report on the killing soon.

He described the killing as “a very bad original concept” and said it was “carried out poorly.”

Turkey’s state news agency Anadolu claims Turkish and Saudi officials found two suitcases and other materials in an abandoned car at the Istanbul Sultangazi district parking lot. A CNN reporter said they had witnessed Turkish police and a forensic team arriving at the car park and that Istanbul’s Sultangazi District Chief Police Officer Mehmet Karaca confirmed the car was part of the Khashoggi case.

Sky News is also reporting that unnamed sources claim mutilated body parts have been found in the grounds of the consulate.

A friend of Mr Khashoggi has criticised the Khashoggi family’s meeting at the royal palace as a “serious assault” on the family who, he claimed, had previously been banned from leaving Saudi Arabia.

Yehia Assiri, a human rights activist, said Mr Khashoggi had said his wife was forced to divorce him after being banned indefinitely from travel and his entire family had also been banned from leaving the kingdom in an effort to pressure him to return.

Mr Assiri told Middle East Eye the family’s visit to the royal palace probably took place under pressure.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan also offered his condolences to the Khashoggi family in a phone call in which he pledged to “shed light on the murder.”

Mr Erdogan said last night the murder had been planned days in advance and insisted the international community would not be satisfied until everyone involved in the brutal murder of Saudi Arabian dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi — including the man at the top who gave the order to kill — was put on trial in Turkey.

Mr Erdogan heaped pressure on King Salman of Saudi Arabia to take further action against those involved, but did not specifically mention the ruling Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman: “I do not doubt the sincerity of King Salman. That being said, independent investigation needs to be carried out. This is a political killing.”

Mr Erdogan gave details of the extent of planning involved in the October 2 murder, including the arrival of six Saudi hit-squad members a day earlier who had carried out reconnaissance in the forest areas around Istanbul.

“Answers must be sought because it takes place in Istanbul and we have a position of responsibility, it’s our right to question this,’’ he said. “As the fog slowly lifts, other countries will take action as well. We will not be silent against this murder and we will take any steps required by our conscience and the law.’’ Mr Erdogan spoke with King Salman a few days ago and he was told that after the conversation the 18 people involved in the killing — the 15 hit-squad members and three Saudi nationals who were working inside the consulate — had been dealt with.

But he said the men should be returned to Istanbul to face trial because the crime was committed within Turkish borders. Mr Erdogan said US President Donald Trump “had agreed to bring to light every aspect of this issue’’. Earlier, in one of the many drip-fed leaks about the investigation, it emerged that Prince Mohammed’s chief security and intelligence adviser made four telephone calls from inside the Saudi consulate to the crown prince’s office in Riyadh immediately after the killing.

This chief adviser, Maher ­Abdulaziz Mutreb, believed to be the leader of the alleged hit team, made the calls to the phone of Bader al-Asaker, who manages Prince Mohammed’s office in ­Riyadh, on the afternoon of October 2. Turkish media said Mr Mutreb also used his mobile on the same day to make a call to Washington, believed to be to Saudi envoy Khaled bin Salman, the prince’s brother.

The calls undermine claims by Saudi Arabia that Prince Mohammed was unaware of the murder. The Saudi insistence that Khashoggi’s death was a result of a rogue operation that went wrong has been widely ridiculed. Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said: “The crown prince has denied this, he is not aware of this. This was an operation that was a rogue operation.”

The timing of Mr Erdogan’s comments could not have been worse for Prince Mohammed, who was opening a global investment conference abandoned by Western leaders and business chiefs that was meant to energise investments in the country.

Turkish leaks claim Prince Mohammed’s enforcer, Saudi royal aide Saud al-Qahtani, beamed himself into the consul-general’s room on the second floor at the Saudi consulate in Turkey via Skype on October 2, insulting Khashoggi before saying: “Bring me the head of the dog.’’

But it was clear the seven-minute murder had been planned days before. The US-resident dissident had been at the consulate on the Friday seeking documents that would allow him to marry and was told to return four days later. Early on October 2, 15 intelligence agents and royal guards arrived on private jets and split into two groups, preparing for Khashoggi’s arrival later that day.

One group, including forensic chief Salah Muhammed al-Tubaigy armed with a bone saw, and Mr Mutreb checked in to the Movenpick hotel, 500m from the consulate. The others, including pilots from the Saudi air force, installed themselves in the Wyndham Grand Istanbul Levant hotel.

The Saudis’ cover-up story began unravelling when body double and royal guard Mustafa al-Madani, who put on Khashoggi’s clothes and a fake beard and went to the Sultanahmet market, wasn’t good enough to pass growing international scrutiny.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin met the crown prince behind closed doors in Riyadh.

Yesterday the Saudi government had still to give Turkey permission to inspect an abandoned consulate vehicle in Istanbul.

Cameron Stewart is also US Contributor for Sky News Australia