Jamal Khashoggi

President Trump is extremely opposed to sanctions against Saudi Arabia …

Trump really, really, really doesn't like the idea of sanctions against Saudi Arabia. pic.twitter.com/My1uFoTAJI

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) October 11, 2018

The most notable article in the last 12 hours is this one in Politico about the Jamal Khashoggi story. It contains clues and signs that the White House is trying to sweep the story under the rug or give the Saudis enough time and room to come up with at least a somewhat plausible cover story: an accident, rogue factions in the security services, etc. But the key part for me was more detail on those calls we discussed yesterday between Kushner and Crown Prince Mohammed (MBS). Read More 

As noted below, Sarah Sanders says Jared Kushner (along with John Bolton) called Saudi Crown Prince and de factor ruler Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) to ask for information about the whereabouts of exiled and now presumed dead Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. A lot of circumstantial evidence points to MBS as the one who ordered the killing, if that’s what happened. Logic too. There’s always the possibility of rogue elements in Saudi security services. But something so audacious would almost certainly have to come from the top. So it’s worth reviewing the relationship between these two men, Kushner and MBS.  Read More 

As I explained last night, we should be considering whether the Trump administration involved itself — even at the passive level of failing to act in deterrence — in the apparent murder of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi. Trump’s and Kushner’s relationships with the ruling Crown Prince run incredibly deep and involve not only to foreign policy but private business deals as well. Kushner and MBS once stayed up all night together in Riyadh brainstorming how these two degenerate princelings could reshape the region. The Saudis even seem to have played some role getting Trump elected in 2016.  Read More