@carrollquigley1 is still digging hard on the Khashoggi story
On Tucker Carlson right now: Benjamin Hall, Fox reporter in Istanbul, reporting that Saudi State TV and prosecutors are telling Fox that 18 have been arrested connected to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. The majority of those people are the same ones who were caught on CCTV entering the consulate in Istanbul then leaving shortly afterwards. What they say happened inside was a fight.
"I'll read you some of the statement– it says the discussion between Khashoggi and the people who met him while at the consulate led to a fight and a clash with hands resulting in his death. And that line, 'with hands', is very important - remember all the leaks we've heard from Turkey point towards torture, dismemberment, pulling off of fingers, so Saudi Arabia clearly trying to distance itself from the gruesome nature of this story that we've been hearing. Now among the 18 who have been arrested, 5 high ranking figures, and this is crucial– among them, a man called General Assiri– he is the deputy head of Saudi intelligence, he had trained in the US and the UK, he in fact was the former spokesman for the Saudi-led war in Yemen, a major figure in Saudi intelligence, and alongside him, a senior aide to Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince. But that isn't as far as the connections to the royal family goes, in fact, they are denying any involvement that they have to push back on this, completely restructure the intelligence services in light of this. So they are coming with a line of total deniability. Now, Saudi sources are also saying that the King himself reached out to President Erdogan a couple of hours before this news broke, he wants to smooth over relationships with that country. The last two weeks have been torturous over here, a geopolitical storm. And that is something he's trying to put to rest. But the bigger question now, can he settle issues with the US - we're waiting for a statement from the White House now. We are waiting for that, but what we have been hearing on Twitter, from a number of senators, we've heard from Lindsey Graham, he isn't believing it - you remember a couple of days ago, he came out firmly against Mohammed bin Salman, well, he has been saying, to say I'm skeptical of the Saudi narrative about Mr. Khashoggi is an understatement. So this may smooth over some of the cracks as far as as regional politics go. Whether or not it has a lasting issue in the US we just don't know yet. We are getting breaking news constantly and I speak to the Saudi sources. This is the story we were expecting, the sense of an interrogation gone wrong, it was sanctioned by someone quite high level but not in the royal family. That's what we are getting now. We have to see how it plays out. If there is lasting damage done between the US and Saudi Arabia, we have to see. One big question: where is the body? Who sanctioned it? Why did 15 of them go to the consulate to interrogate one man? Those remain unanswered today."