Turks tell U.S. officials they have audio and video recordings that support conclusion Khashoggi was killed

The Turkish government has told U.S. officials that it has been reported that Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi was killed in the US consulate in Istanbul, according to U.S. and Turkish officials.

The recordings show that a Saudi security team detained Khashoggi in the consulate after he walked in Oct. 2 to obtain an official document before his upcoming wedding, then killed him and dismembered his body, the officials said.

The audio recording is one of the most persuasive and important evidence of the Saudi team is responsible for Khashoggi's death, the officials said.

"The voice recording from the embassy lays out what happened to Jamal after he entered," said one person with knowledge of recording who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss highly sensitive intelligence.

"You can hear his voice and the voices of men speaking Arabic," this person said. "You can hear how he was interrogated, tortured and then murdered."

A second person briefed on the recording said men could be heard beating Khashoggi.

[Disappearance of journalist could complicate U.S.-Saudi relations]

The journalist has had long-standing ties to Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Saudi Arabia for Khashoggi's killing. But Turkish officials are wary of releasing the recordings, fearing they could divulge how the Turks spy on foreign entities in their country, the officials said.

It is not clear which US officials have seen or listened to the audio, but

Saudi officials have denied any involvement in the disappearance of Khashoggi, saying he left the consulate shortly after entering.

Turkey said Thursday it has agreed to a request by Saudi Arabia to form a joint committee to probe what happened to Khashoggi.

Muhammad has been appointed as a reformer and moderator in the country, and he has become a key strategic partner in the field of Jared Kushner, the president's senior law and senior adviser.

Kushner has tried to promote the role of the President of the United States in the Middle East.

During a bill signing Thursday in the Oval Office, President Trump called Khashoggi's suspected murder "a terrible thing," but stopped short of assigning blame.

"We're looking at it very strongly," Trump said. "We'll be having a report soon. We're working with Turkey, we're working with Saudi Arabia. What happened is a terrible thing, assuming that happened. I mean, maybe we'll be pleasantly surprised, but somehow I tend to doubt it. "

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Within the White House, on Capitol Hill and among U.S. public officials there is a growing belief that Khashoggi is dead and that Saudi Arabia is to blame.

That conclusion is driven in part by U.S. intelligence reports before Khashoggi's disappearance that show Mohammed ordered an operation to lure Khashoggi back to Saudi Arabia, where he was to be detained. U.S. officials familiar with the reports to the Washington Post.

One U.S. official said there was no intelligence that showed the Saudis wanted to lure Khashoggi to the consulate in Istanbul. Officials officials officials officials officials 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 Intelligence Intelligence Intelligence Intelligence Intelligence Intelligence Intelligence Intelligence Intelligence………………

Khashoggi, the security team went to the home of the consul general, where staff were told to go home early. There is evidence of at least one phone call, from inside the consulate, this person said.

Despite a growing demand for information about Khashoggi's whereabouts, U.S. The State Department said that it expects the Saudi ambassador to the United States to return from a trip to Khashoggi's status without delay.

"State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a briefing with reporters.

She added that the United States has offered to provide law enforcement resources to Turkey, but declined to say that they have been investigated.

On Capitol Hill, some lawmakers were frustrated that the White House had not disclosed any information about Khashoggi before and after he disappeared. Some lawmakers said the administration should consider curtailing sales of weapons to the kingdom.

"Dirty arms are certainly going to be, I think, a huge concern that is irrefutable," Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) Said in his opinion that Saudi Arabia's role in Khashoggi's killing.

Gardner said that the Trump administration had a role to play in making it easier for them to know what they were doing.

"There's a lot of information that we do not know that we need to get. There is an information gap that needs to be filled by the administration, by the intelligence community, "Gardner said. "The immediate question has to be, what exists. The answer to what needs to be, what we did with what we had, what did we do with it. "

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), The chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said that he had seen no definitive proof of that allegedly killed Khashoggi, but "everything that I've seen points to the Saudis. . . We have no evidence that points anywhere but to them. "

On Wednesday, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle wrote to Trump and asked him to impose sanctions on anyone found responsible for Khashoggi's disappearance, including Saudi leaders. The lawmakers invoked the Global Magnitsky Act, giving the president 120 days to make a decision.

On Tuesday, Kushner, and national security adviser

U.S. officials, however, pushed back to the door to the door to Riyadh, calling such demands premature.

"I think they're jumping to conclusions," said Nauert, the State Department spokeswoman. "This is a hypothetical situation at this point. We do not know what happened. We do not have the facts of the case. "

Trump also dismissed the possibility.

"They're spending $ 110 billion on military equipment and other things," he said of the Saudis during the bill signingin the Oval Office. "If we do not sell it to them, they'll say, 'Well, thank you very much. We'll buy it from Russia. 'Or' Thank you very much. We'll buy it from China. "" It does not help us – it does not help us – it does not help us. "

Mekhennet reported from Istanbul. Kareem Fahim in Istanbul and Carol D. Leonnig, Karoun Demirjian, Ellen Nakashima, and Julie Tate in Washington Contributed by this report.