The Latest: US lawmaker: Saudi explanation ‘not credible’
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The Latest on the disappearance of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist who vanished after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul earlier this month (all times local):
2:50 a.m.
A high-ranking Democratic lawmaker in the United States is expressing doubts about the credibility of Saudi Arabia’s explanation that Jamal Khashoggi was killed in a fight inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
California Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House intelligence committee, said Friday that Saudi Arabia’s claim that he was “killed while brawling with a team of more than a dozen dispatched from Saudi Arabia is not credible.”
Schiff says that if Khashoggi was fighting inside the consulate, he was “fighting for his life with people sent to capture or kill him.”
He says if Trump’s Republican administration won’t hold Saudi Arabia accountable for Khashoggi’s death, Congress will.
Trump has previously warned against jumping to conclusions that Saudi Arabia was responsible for Khashoggi’s disappearance.
2:40 a.m.
The White House is acknowledging the announcement from Saudi Arabia that journalist Jamal Khashoggi is dead and that 18 Saudi nationals are in custody on suspicion of involvement in his death.
In a statement Friday night, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders says the U.S. will closely follow international investigations into Khashoggi’s death and will advocate for justice that is “timely, transparent and in accordance with all due process.”
Saudi state-run media reported that prosecutors believe The Washington Post columnist was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in a quarrel. He was last seen Oct. 2.
Turkish officials previously said they believe Khashoggi was dismembered. He was a critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The White House offered condolences to his family, fiancee and friends.
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1:40 a.m.
Saudi Arabia’s state-run news agency says King Salman now has a proposal on the “urgent need” to restructure the kingdom’s intelligence services after the slaying of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.
The state-run Saudi Press Agency made the announcement early Saturday.
It came immediately after the official announcement by the kingdom that Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, was killed at the consulate and that 18 Saudis were detained as suspects in the killing…..
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