Saudi crown prince told White House that murdered journalist Khashoggi was a ‘dangerous Islamist’
- Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been widely accused of links to the killing of Jamal Khashoggi in a Saudi consulate
- The private disparagement contrasts with public Saudi remarks that the journalist’s death was a ‘tragedy’ and ‘a terrible mistake’
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman described slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi as a dangerous Islamist days after his disappearance, in a phone call with US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and national security adviser John Bolton, according to people familiar with the discussion.
In the call, which occurred before the kingdom publicly acknowledged that its security officials killed Khashoggi, the crown prince urged Kushner and Bolton to preserve the US-Saudi alliance and said the journalist was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, a group long opposed by Bolton and other senior Trump officials.
The attempt to criticise Khashoggi in private stands in contrast to the Saudi government’s later public statements decrying the journalist’s death as a “terrible mistake” and a “terrible tragedy”.
“The incident that happened is very painful, for all Saudis,” the crown prince, the kingdom’s de facto leader, said during a panel discussion last week. “The incident is not justifiable.”
The Saudi ambassador to the United States, Khalid bin Salman, described Khashoggi last month as a “friend” who dedicated “a great portion of his life to serve his country”.
In a statement released to The Washington Post, Khashoggi’s family called the characterisation of the columnist as dangerous Islamist inaccurate.