President Donald Trump said on Tuesday Saudi authorities staged the “worst cover-up ever” in the killing of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi this month, as the United States vowed to revoke the visas of some of those believed to be responsible.

Trump spoke hours after Turkey’s president, Tayyip Erdogan, dismissed Saudi efforts to blame Khashoggi’s death on rogue operatives. Erdogan urged Riyadh to search “from top to bottom” to uncover those behind Khashoggi’s death in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, an incident that has sparked global outrage and strained relations between Riyadh and Washington.

For Saudi Arabia’s allies, the question will be whether they believe that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has painted himself as a reformer, has any culpability.

Trump said the killing and subsequent cover-up by Saudi Arabia were “a total fiasco.”
“There should have never been an execution or a cover-up, because it should have never happened,” Trump told reporters. He said he had spoken on Monday with the crown prince who denied having anything to do with Khashoggi’s killing.

Earlier, Trump said the Khashoggi matter was handled badly by Saudi officials.
“Bad deal, should have never been thought of. Somebody really messed up. And they had the worst cover-up ever,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
Khashoggi, a critic of the crown prince, was a U.S. resident and Washington Post columnist.
Trump’s comments in recent days have ranged from threatening Saudi Arabia with “very severe” consequences and mentioning possible economic sanctions, to more conciliatory remarks highlighting the country’s role as a U.S. ally against Iran and Islamist militants, as well as a major purchaser of U.S. arms.

Trump did not give his views on who was ultimately responsible. But Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States had identified some of the Saudi government and security officials it believed were involved in Khashoggi’s murder and would take appropriate actions including revoking U.S. visas.
The U.S. State Department said 21 Saudis would have their visas revoked or be made ineligible for U.S. visas. Another official said the vast majority of the group had U.S. visas.
“As we continue to develop our understanding of the individuals that were responsible for this, not only those who executed it but those who were connected to it, the world should know that we intend to hold those individuals accountable when we develop this fact set,” Pompeo told reporters.

Pompeo also said the State Department was looking into whether sanctions could be applicable for those found to be involved.
“These penalties will not be the last word on this matter from the United States,” Pompeo said, although he emphasized as have other senior U.S. officials, the importance of the U.S.-Saudi relationship. “Neither the president nor I are happy with this situation.”

As the crisis unfolded over the past three weeks, Saudi Arabia changed its tune on Khashoggi. Riyadh initially denied knowledge of Khashoggi’s fate before saying on Saturday he was killed in a fight in the consulate, an account met with skepticism from several Western governments, straining their relations with the world’s biggest oil exporter.

Saudi Arabia has detained 18 people and dismissed five senior government officials as part of an investigation into Khashoggi’s death. One of those fired includes Saud al-Qahtani, a top aide who ran social media for Prince Mohammed. According to two intelligence sources, Qahtani ran Khashoggi’s killing by giving orders over Skype.
Turkish security sources say that when Khashoggi entered the consulate, he was seized by 15 Saudi intelligence operatives who had flown in on two jets just hours before.

ERDOGAN VOW

Erdogan on Tuesday stopped short of mentioning the crown prince who some U.S. lawmakers suspect ordered the killing.
“The Saudi administration has taken an important step by admitting to the murder. From now on, we expect them to uncover all those responsible for this matter from top to bottom and make them face the necessary punishments,” Erdogan said in a speech in parliament.
“From the person who gave the order, to the person who carried it out, they must all be brought to account,” Turkey’s president said.

Turkish sources have said that authorities have an audio recording purportedly documenting the killing. Erdogan made no reference to any audio recording.
A Saudi Cabinet meeting chaired by King Salman said Riyadh would hold to account those responsible for the killing and those who failed in their duties, whoever they were.
Turkish investigators searched a Saudi consulate vehicle in Istanbul that contained two suitcases and other items, according to broadcaster CNN Turk. It was not clear what was in the suitcases.

‘BRUTAL MURDER’

Trump said he would work with the U.S. Congress to determine the U.S. response to the Khashoggi matter.
In terms of what we ultimately do, I’m going to leave it very much – in conjunction with me – up to Congress,” Trump said, adding he would like a bipartisan recommendation.
CIA Director Gina Haspel, in Turkey to investigate the death of Khashoggi, has sought to hear the purported audio recording of his torture and murder, four sources familiar with her mission told Reuters on Tuesday.

A host of Western executives and governments have pulled out of a high-profile Saudi investment summit that started on Tuesday because of the Khashoggi affair.
Erdogan said the killing was planned from when Khashoggi, 59, first went to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Sept. 28 to obtain documents necessary for his marriage. He was told he would need to return later to collect the documents.

A day before Khashoggi’s death, agents arrived from overseas and began to scout locations, including the Belgrad Forest near Istanbul and the city of Yalova to its south, Erdogan said. Police have searched both areas for evidence of Khashoggi’s remains, Reuters has reported.
On the day Khashoggi arrived for his appointment and was later killed, the hard disk in the consulate’s camera system was removed, Erdogan said.

“Covering up a savage murder like this will only hurt the human conscience. We expect the same sensitivity from all parties, primarily the Saudi Arabian leadership,” he said.
“We have strong signs that the murder was the result of a planned operation, not a spontaneous development.”

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Jamal Khashoggi died as a result of a brutal premeditated murder, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday, in a highly anticipated speech in which he rejected Saudi Arabia’s claim that the journalist was killed accidentally.

Erdogan called on the perpetrators to be brought to justice in Istanbul and questioned whether the Vienna Conventions, which give immunity to diplomatic staff, applied in this case.
It was the first time that any official in Turkey has publicly outlined the Turkish contention that Khashoggi was killed by a hit squad sent from Saudi Arabia. But while Erdogan had promised the “naked truth,” he offered few details beyond those revealed by Turkish officials speaking privately.

The main thrust of his speech amounted to a comprehensive rejection of Saudi Arabia’s case that Khashoggi died by accident as a result of a brawl. “The information obtained so far and the evidence found shows that Khashoggi was murdered in a ferocious manner,” Erdogan told lawmakers in Ankara.

Among the new details revealed by Erdogan was an allegation that, on the day before Khashoggi was killed, a team of consular staff carried out a reconnaissance mission at two separate locations in Belgrad Forest, on the outskirts of Istanbul, and at Yalova, a city about a 55-mile (90-kilometer) drive south of Istanbul.
As part of the probe, police on Tuesday morning raided a villa in Yalova’s Termal district believed to belong to one of the Saudi suspects, Turkish newspaper Hurriyet reported, citing local media. Khashoggi’s body has yet to be found.

Erdogan also put into the public domain allegations that a 15-strong hit squad arrived in Istanbul, saying that a team of three arrived on a private jet the day before Khashoggi died, and that two teams of nine and three — the larger team including “generals” — arrived on the day of his appointment at the consulate.
Hours before Khashoggi arrived to obtain paperwork to marry his fiancée, security cameras were disconnected, Erdogan said.

“We stated that we would not remain silent and that we would take every step necessary for justice to be done,” Erdogan said to members of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
But there were some glaring omissions and few new details in the speech. Much of what Erdogan said in the parliamentary address has already appeared in media reports and he made no reference to a previously reported audio recording from inside the consulate, said to have captured his alleged torture and killing. Nor did he mention Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Kingdom’s de facto ruler, by name.

Bin Salman, in public comments the day after Khashoggi disappeared, professed to know nothing about any malfeasance, insisting Khashoggi had left the Istanbul consulate alive.
Erdogan called on Saudi King Salman for the 18 Saudi suspects linked to Khashoggi’s death to be tried in Istanbul.
After weeks of denying any knowledge of Khashoggi’s whereabouts, the Saudi government said on Friday that the journalist had indeed died in the kingdom’s diplomatic compound in Istanbul. The Saudi story has shifted drastically since Khashoggi was last seen entering the consulate on October 2; the official line is now that he was accidentally killed when a discussion with officials turned into a brawl.

Erdogan presented a very different version of events on Tuesday, speaking in Ankara as Saudi Arabia’s flagship investment conference got underway in Riyadh, the Saudi capital. Dozens of top business leaders from around the world have pulled out of the Crown Prince’s showcase event, known as “Davos in the desert,” as questions mount over the Saudi government’s role in the death of the Washington Post columnist and US resident.

State television in Saudi Arabia flashed urgent banners on Tuesday from the Council of Ministers, stating that the kingdom would hold to account those responsible for Khashoggi’s murder.
“The procedures taken by the Kingdom regarding the incident of citizen Khashoggi indicates the leadership’s keenness to hold accountable those ‘who failed in their duties,'” the banner read.
But, during his speech, Erdogan rejected the idea that blaming “rogue elements” of the Saudi intelligence and security services would satisfy Turkey or the international community.
Turkish police stand guard in front of parking lot in Istanbul, where an abandoned car belonging to the Saudi consulate was found.

“It will be satisfactory only when everyone who is responsible for this is penalized appropriately,” he said. “I don’t doubt the sincerity of the King. At the same time it is very important for the inquiry to be carried out by an impartial team.”
Turkish officials have maintained from the start that Khashoggi’s death was “violently planned”ahead of time, carried out by a team of Saudi operatives dispatched to Istanbul, and subsequently covered up.

In the intervening weeks, Turkish officials have released a drip-feed of information related to their investigation into Khashoggi’s murder, including surveillance footage shared exclusively with CNN that showed what a Turkish source described as a “body double” leaving the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on the day Khashoggi died. The Saudi operative, said by the Turkish source to be one of a 15-man team sent from Saudi Arabia to kill Khashoggi, was wearing the journalist’s clothes and was picked up on surveillance footage at locations around Istanbul.
Erdogan confirmed the body double in CNN’s exclusive.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Tuesday that evidence uncovered during the investigation has yet to be shared with any country, according to Turkey’s state-run Anadolu News, but that Turkey was “ready to cooperate in a possible probe into Khashoggi case at UN, international courts.”

“Jamal Khashoggi’s killing is a violently planned and a very complicated murder, which was being covered up,” Omer Celik, AKP spokesman, said at the party’s headquarters in Ankara on Monday. “I hope those responsible for Khashoggi’s killing are punished and no one ever thinks of repeating this.”
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said: “The line our President put since the beginning of this case is very clear. The investigation will continue until the end.”

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