According to CIA intercepts leaked to the Wall Street Journal, embattled Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman sent at least 11 messages plotting the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi to an associate who reportedly oversaw the murder.
Saturday morning, the WSJ revealed that the CIA had shared with them a report containing the messages, including one from August 2017 in which bin Salman stated "we could possibly lure [Khashoggi] outside Saudi Arabia and make arrangements," if he couldn't convice the journalist to travel to Saudi Arabia.
According to the WSJ, " The electronic messages sent by Prince Mohammed were to Saud al-Qahtani, according to the CIA. Mr. Qahtani supervised the 15-man team that killed Mr. Khashoggi and, during the same period, was also in direct communication with the team’s leader in Istanbul, the assessment says. The content of the messages between Prince Mohammed and Mr. Qahtani isn’t known, the document says. It doesn’t say in what form the messages were sent."
The Journal noted that the report was unclear whether the comments came directly from the crown prince or from someone describing his communications.
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