According to Turkish newspaper reports on Thursday, the CIA director Gina Haspel has indicated that the agency does have a recording of a call, where Saudi Arabia’s crown prince was cited as giving instruction to “silence” journalist Jamal Khashoggi last month.
When asked about the reports, Turkish official told the Reuters that he had no information regarding such recording. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia stated that crown prince has no relation and prior knowledge of the killing of Khashoggi in Istanbul at the Saudi consulate. Further the CIA refused to comment over the matter.
In his column, Hurriyet newspaper journalist Abdulkadir Selvi wrote, “There is talk of another recording,” adding that the conversation recording is between the crown prince and his brother, Saudi’s ambassador to Washington.
Selvi further wrote, “It is being said that CIA chief Gina Haspel indicated this during her visit to Turkey,” and said they had discussed the matter related to Khashoggi’s killing.
The recorded call, which was monitored by the US agency, stated, “It is being said the crown prince gave orders to ‘silence Jamal Khashoggi as soon as possible’.”