Rudy Giuliani says senior Trump administration officials believe Saudis killed Khashoggi

Donald Trump.
(Image credit: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)

While President Trump has been adamant about reserving judgment on Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi's disappearance until after an investigation is completed, Rudy Giuliani told The Washington Post on Wednesday that many senior members of the administration concluded last week that the Saudis ordered Khashoggi murdered.

Khashoggi disappeared from the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, and Turkey says it has clear evidence he was murdered inside the building by 15 Saudi agents. The purported proof includes an audio recording of Khashoggi being killed and dismembered, and U.S. officials have said privately they do not doubt this account, the Post reports. There is no definitive proof that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing, but there's also no reason to think he did not plan the operation, U.S. officials said.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.