Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post writer and critic of the monarchy of Saudi Arabia, hasn't been seen since he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last week. Turkish officials believe Khashoggi was murdered by Saudi operatives who then dismembered his body to hide the evidence. In what The Washington Post describes as "another piece of evidence implicating the Saudi regime in Khashoggi’s disappearance," anonymous U.S. intelligence officials told the paper that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman once "ordered an operation to lure" Khashoggi from the U.S., where he's a resident, back to his native country.
While Khashoggi's alleged murder in the midst of a softened U.S.-Saudi relationship may be a "looming diplomatic crisis" for President Trump, it's more of a "personal reckoning" for Jared Kushner, The New York Times writes. The president's son-in-law and senior adviser has had dinner with bin Salman both in Washington and the Saudi capital of Riyadh. He encouraged selling $110 billion of weapons to the Saudi military. And he apparently hoped bin Salman would approve of his forthcoming Israeli-Palestinian peace plan. The crown prince, meanwhile, once reportedly bragged about having Kushner "in his pocket."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Read more about Kushner's debacle at The New York Times.
-
What’s the best way to use your year-end bonus?the explainer Pay down debt, add it to an emergency fund or put it toward retirement
-
What are portable mortgages and how do they work?the explainer Homeowners can transfer their old rates to a new property in the UK and Canada. The Trump administration is considering making it possible in the US.
-
10 concert tours to see this winterThe Week Recommends Keep cozy this winter with a series of concerts from big-name artists
-
Judge halts Trump’s DC Guard deploymentSpeed Read The Trump administration has ‘infringed upon the District’s right to govern itself,’ the judge ruled
-
Trump accuses Democrats of sedition meriting ‘death’Speed Read The president called for Democratic lawmakers to be arrested for urging the military to refuse illegal orders
-
Court strikes down Texas GOP gerrymanderSpeed Read The Texas congressional map ordered by Trump is likely an illegal racial gerrymander, the court ruled
-
Trump defends Saudi prince, shrugs off Khashoggi murderSpeed Read The president rebuked an ABC News reporter for asking Mohammed bin Salman about the death of a Washington Post journalist at the Saudi Consulate in 2018
-
Congress passes bill to force release of Epstein filesSpeed Read The Justice Department will release all files from its Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking investigation
-
Trump says he will sell F-35 jets to Saudi ArabiaSpeed Read The president plans to make several deals with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman this week
-
Judge blasts ‘profound’ errors in Comey caseSpeed Read ‘Government misconduct’ may necessitate dismissing the charges against the former FBI director altogether
-
Ecuador rejects push to allow US military basesSpeed Read Voters rejected a repeal of a constitutional ban on US and other foreign military bases in the country
