Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and King Salman bin Abdulaziz met with the two sons of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi on Tuesday, Oct. 23, according to the Saudi Press Agency. Sahl and Salah Khashoggi were offered condolences by the king and the prince. The men exchanged firm handshakes among each other.
The meeting took place in the same day that U.S. Donald Trump described the case as the "the worst cover-up" and revealed about how he personally asked the Crown Prince whether he has direct knowledge about the killing that took place inside the consulate in Turkey.
The meeting also happened on the same day when Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan insisted in a speech that the journalist, a strong critic of the Crown prince's rule, died in a premeditated murder.
Last week, after days of denying its knowledge, Saudi finally confessed that Khashoggi died inside the country's consulate in Istanbul. After the admittance, King Salman has removed the deputy head of his country's intelligence agency and his top aide. The king has also ordered the arrest of 18 other officials who were suspected to be involved in the killing of the Saudi journalist who was on a self-imposed exile in the United States since 2017.
There have been ongoing suspicions that the Crown Prince was behind or at least knew about the planning of the murder - something vehemently denied by Foreign Minister Adel al-Juber.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Trump said that the prince is "running things and so if anybody were going to be it, it would be him." He said he had repeatedly asked the Crown Prince about Khashoggi's death "in a couple of different ways." He said he asked whether the Crown Prince knew about the initial planning to which the prince said no. He asked about where the planning started to which the prince said: "at lower levels."
Meanwhile, in a press briefing on the same day, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that 21 Saudis - including individuals in the intelligence services, the Royal Court, the foreign ministry, and other Saudi ministers - would have their U.S. visas revoked and possibly face sanctions.
While Khashoggi's death is expected to strain the US-Saudi relations, Pompeo said the United States would continue its strong partnership and shared strategic interests with Saudi Arabia.
Erdogan, meanwhile, called Saudi to conduct its own independent investigation about the Washington Post journalist. He also demanded Saudi to have its 18 suspects extradited to Turkey where they should stand trial for the crime. He insisted that Khashoggi was killed by a hit squad deployed by Saudi Arabia.
Erdogan also revealed that on the same day that the journalist was killed, a team of consular staff scouted a forest on the outskirts of Istanbul. More so, in the hours before the journalist arrived at the consulate on Oct. 2, security cameras in the building were reportedly disconnected.
