The Office of the Director of National Intelligence is expected to release an unclassified report on the murder of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi and the role that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman played in his death, the Washington Post reports.
Unlike his predecessor, President Joe Biden has made it clear that the current administration intends to exert pressure on Saudi Arabia to change its demeanor in the region. While promising to support Saudi in its defense against local adversaries like Iran, the Biden Administration has canceled arms sales and pushed the kingdom to temper its support of rebels in the Yemeni civil war.
And unlike the Trump Administration, during which Trump’s son-in-law dealt with MbS, who is believed to have ordered the assassination and dismemberment of US-based Khashoggi, Biden will deal with the king, not the prince.
“The president’s counterpart is King Salman,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said, “and I expect that, in appropriate time, he would have a conversation with him.”
The report comes two years after Congress gave Trump’s ODNI 30 days to produce a report on what US intelligence agencies knew about the murder of Khashoggi, who was lured to the Saudi embassy in Turkey, where he was murdered. Trump ignored the order and continued to work with MbS, sometimes sending Kushner as a liaison to directly talk with the prince.