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WASHINGTON – Shortly after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi last month at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, a member of the Killing Team asked a telephone superior to "tell your boss ", who would be the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, that the agents According to three people close to the record of the assassination of Mr. Khashoggi, collected by the Turkish intelligence services.
The recording, shared last month with the CIA channel The director, Gina Haspel, is perceived by the intelligence services as one of the most convincing evidence linking Prince Mohammed to the murder of Mr. Khashoggi, a resident of Virginia. a Washington Post columnist whose death sparked an international outcry.
Although the prince was not mentioned by name, the US intelligence service believes that "your leader" was a reference to Prince Mohammed. Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, one of 15 Saudis sent to Istanbul to confront Mr. Khashoggi, made the phone call and spoke in Arabic, the people said.
Turkish intelligence officials told US officials they thought Mutreb, a security officer who frequently traveled with Prince Mohammed, was addressing one of the prince's aides. Although translations from Arabic may differ, those informed during the appeal stated that Mr. Mutreb also told the assistant that the effect of "the act had been accomplished".
"Such a phone call is about as close to a gun as you are going to have," said Bruce O. Riedel, a former former Canadian official. Officer now at the Brookings Institution. "These are incriminating evidence."
Turkish officials said the audio did not conclusively implicate Prince Mohammed, and that US intelligence and other government officials have warned that the recording, no matter how convincing, still does not constitute irrefutable proof of his involvement in the death of Mr. Khashoggi.
Even if Mr. Mutreb thought the murder had been ordered by the Crown Prince, for example, he might have an inaccurate understanding of the origins of the order. The name of Prince Mohammed is not specifically mentioned on the recording, and intelligence officials are not sure that Mr. Mutreb was referring to him.
In a statement released on Monday, Saudi officials denied that the crown prince "had any idea" of Mr. Khashoggi's murder. Referring to Mr. Mutreb's instructions to "let his boss know", the Saudi statement stated that Turkey had "authorized our intelligence services to hear recordings, and at no time had there been any reference to the phrase mentioned in these records ".
Turks may own several recordings, including monitoring of phone calls, and Turkish authorities may only selectively share audio.
A C.I.A. The spokesman declined to comment.
The appeal was part of a recording played by the Turkish authorities for Ms. Haspel during his visit to Ankara, the Turkish capital, in October, but they did not allow him to bring her back to the United States. On Saturday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that his government had shared audio with Saudi Arabia, the United States and other Western allies.
However, while Turkish officials played the record for US and other intelligence agencies and provided transcripts, the Turks did not render it for independent analysis, according to Turkish officials.
Turkey has shared the evidence of the case with "a large number of friendly nations," said Erdogan spokesman Fahrettin Altun on Monday. Reacting to French critics of Turkey's handling of the case, Altun said the Turkish government had broadcast an audio recording for French intelligence officials and sent them transcripts.
"Let's not forget that this case has already been concealed without the determined efforts of Turkey," said Mr Altun.
The growing evidence of Prince Mohammed's involvement in the assassination of Mr. Khashoggi will certainly intensify pressure on the White House, who seemed to want to rely on the lack of evidence of his involvement in preserving his relations with the Crown Prince. Prince Mohammed has built close relations with President's son-in-law and senior advisor, Jared Kushner, and the Trump government has made Saudi Arabia the largest Arab partner in Washington.
Some Trump advisers said they would need compelling evidence of Prince Mohammed's involvement in the murder of Mr. Khashoggi before punishing him more severely. Turkish officials said the recording contained evidence of a premeditated murder, during which Saudi agents quickly strangled Mr. Khashoggi and methodically dismembered him with a bone saw.
The administration, according to current and former officials, hopes that modest sanctions measures and reduced support for the Saudi war effort in Yemen will satisfy critics, including those of Capitol Hill.
But the change of power in Congress, where the Democrats take control of the House in January, also increases the pressure on the administration to take more punitive measures. The ICA and other intelligence officials were to brief Congress this week, and Congress leaders will urge Ms Haspel to assess Prince Mohammed's guilt.
Mr. Trump himself suggested that more information would be disclosed. "I'll have a much stronger opinion on this subject next week," he told reporters Wednesday at the White House. "I form a very strong opinion."
Signs of hardening of the position within the administration appear. The State Department on Sunday issued a strong statement that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a telephone call to Prince Mohammed: "The United States will demand that all those involved in the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi be held responsible ".
The Saudi authorities planned to publish their own investigation in the coming days, but Turkey's revelation that they themselves and Western officials would also have transcripts of the recordings could force the Saudis to rush ahead of any presentation they planned to make. make.
Even without definitive proof, the intelligence services had already concluded that only Prince Mohammed could order the operation to kill Mr. Khashoggi, given the personal nature of his governance and the extent of his control over the kingdom. The recording also showed that Mr. Khashoggi had been killed shortly after entering the room of the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul where he was waiting for the security team, further evidence that the murder was planned, according to people informed information.
Current and former intelligence officials insisted that it was rare for all pieces of a complex puzzle like Mr. Khashoggi's to be available. According to a former manager, intelligence simply does not work like a spy thriller or a police detective on television in which a case triggers a crystal clear recording.
The investigators would probably not have gathered evidence establishing an irrefutable link between the Crown Prince and the assassination, said California Representative Adam B. Schiff, who will head the committee of the House intelligence next year.
"You will not make any of the people responsible for the murder talk openly about who they have received their orders from or who is aware of," said Mr. Schiff during an interview. "This is not realistic to expect."
The absence of direct evidence does not prevent the intelligence services from carrying the responsibility to Prince Mohammed's feet. An intelligence assessment includes the agency's best judgment of what has happened based on the facts available and the experience of the officials.
Mr. Schiff promised that, when he would take over the Intelligence Committee, he would investigate the killing of Mr. Khashoggi and review Saudi Arabia's actions in the Middle East, including his military campaign in Yemen, which triggered a humanitarian crisis.
"We have to do our own due diligence, we have to make sure we get good information, and we have to make sure that the administration does not distort what foreign actors are doing in this country," Schiff said.
Nevertheless, current and former officials have stated that they do not expect Trump to give up support for Prince Mohammed.
"The Trump family and the president have built such an overwhelming dependence on the Crown Prince that the relationship is now, in their view, too important to fail," Schiff said.
Policy-makers – not Haspel or National Intelligence Director Dan Coats – will decide what kind of relationship Prince Muhammad has with Saudi Arabia for the murder of Khashoggi. current and former leaders.
