Four of the Saudi agents who lured Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi to Turkey, where they murdered and dismembered him, received training in 2017 from a US government program approved by the State Department and conducted by an Arkansas paramilitary security contractor, the New York Times reports.

Tier 1 Group, owned by Cerberus Capital Management, many of whose board members are significant contributors to conservative political causes.  There is no evidence suggesting members of Tier 1 Group or the Trump Administration knew the intended missions of the four Saudis, who undertook a campaign of attacks, violence and terror against people challenging the rule of the Saudi royal family, particularly Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud.

According to the Times, the company says the training — including “safe marksmanship” and “countering an attack” — was defensive in nature and devised to better protect Saudi leaders. One person familiar with the training said it also included work in surveillance and close-quarters battle.

The training program through Tier 1 was begun in 2014 during the Obama Administration and continued through the early parts of the Trump Administration.

Louis Bremer, a senior executive of Cerebus, Tier 1’s parent company, was nominated by Trump for a top position in the Defense Department and was asked about components of the company’s training of foreign agents.  The White House withdrew Bremer’s nomination before he submitted answers to the questions to Congress.

Bremer provided the questionnaire to the Times, and he claimed that the training the four receive were in no way related to the method or means of Khashoggi’s murder, and he disavowed the group’s actions.

Trump also considered installing the CEO of Cerebus, Stephen A. Feinberg, to an unspecified intelligence post, but dismissed that possibility.  Instead, Feinberg was named head of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board in 2018, a position that did not require Senate confirmation and a position that would allow him to remain with Cerebus.  Questions quickly arose about Feinberg having potential conflicts of interest given that Cerebus continued to work with a number of foreign clients.

While US intelligence agencies identified the members of the Saudi assassination squad and insinuated that bin Salman ordered the assassination, the Trump administration took no action against bin Salman or Saudi Arabia.  Bin Salman was also a personal friend of Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner.