Intelligence report on Jamal Khashoggi's murder released

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff today said President Biden should move to directly punish Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman now that US intelligence agencies have determined he is responsible for Jamal Khashoggi's murder.

"I would like to see the administration go beyond what it has announced in terms of repercussions to make sure there are repercussions directly to the crown prince," said Schiff. "To me it's discordant ... to go after those who followed the orders but not who gave the orders."

Schiff's remarks came after the Biden administration took action against the Saudi government, but declined to punish the crown prince.

Speaking with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Schiff listed steps the Biden administration could take against the crown prince, including shunning him, banning him from the US and pursuing assets that might have played a role in Khashoggi's death. 

Schiff also expressed confidence that the Saudi government would continue to work with the US, despite any forthcoming punishment, saying "they get more out of the relationship than we do"

"They'll decide what's in their best interest and I think they're going decide the best interest is not to completely disrupt relations because we're holding them accountable for a murder the crown prince knows he helped commit," he said.

Secretary of State Tony Blinken said the Biden administration was looking to recalibrate the US-Saudi relationship instead of rupture it, when asked why the administration did not impose a cost on Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman today after a declassified report concluded that the crown prince had ordered the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.

The actions taken by the Biden administration today – including declassifying the report by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and rolling out sanctions and visa restrictions on Saudi officials — seek to “prevent future conduct,” Blinken explained. He argued that the US-Saudi relationship is not just about the US relationship with the crown prince.

“I think that we have to understand as well that this is bigger than any one person. This recalibration goes to the policies that Saudi Arabia is pursuing, and the actions it has taken,” Blinken said.

He also said the administration is already seeing results as a result of the recalibration, but did not cite any action that the crown prince has taken as a result of the recalibration. 

“I would just add and conclude with this, we are already seeing some results from this recalibration. We're seeing results in our own efforts joined, I hope by Saudi Arabia, to end the war in Yemen. We're seeing the new policy approach we've taken to arms transfers and getting back to regular order with Congress. And I think that overall, we are doing what the president said we should do, which was to review the relationship in its totality, and to make sure that it goes forward in a way that better reflects our interests and values,” Blinken said. 

Blinken also pointed to the “important” US-Saudi relationship and cited “significant ongoing interests.”

“We remain committed to the defense of the kingdom. But we also want to make sure, and this is what the President has said from the outset, that the relationship better reflects our interests and our values,” he said. 

Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine today defended the Biden administration's position on Saudi Arabia, but said Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman must still be held accountable for the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

"No, I'm not happy with the lack of accountability for MBS," said Kaine, after being pressed repeatedly by CNN's Jake Tapper on how the Biden administration's position was any different from that of his predecessor. 

"There needs to be accountability," added Kaine, who represents Virginia, where Khashoggi lived while residing in the US. "...As of today, there's not yet accountability for MBS. We'll have to explore in Congress what we can do."

Despite promising to punish senior Saudi leaders while on the campaign trail, President Biden declined to punish the crown prince, even after US intelligence community determined he is responsible for Khashoggi's brutal murder.

But earlier in the interview, Kaine sought to draw a contrast between the Trump and Biden administrations' position on Saudi Arabia.

"I think you have to look at everything to say the positions are not the same," said Kaine. "President Trump was doing transfers of nuclear technology to the Saudis and not telling Congress, weapon sales, bypassing Congress ... all to butter up the Saudis, and Joe Biden is making a dramatic change to that."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement that US government “must re-evaluate and recalibrate the relationship with Saudi Arabia” in light of the release of a declassified report on the killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Pelosi also said that House Democrats will introduce legislation to honor his life’s work “with targeted sanctions on those who commit gross violations against journalists.” 

"Saudi Arabia needs to know that the world is watching its disturbing actions and that we will hold it accountable," she said in the statement.

In an exclusive interview with NPR set to air Friday afternoon, Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence, conceded the report could complicate US-Saudi relations going forward. 

The Saudi foreign ministry released a statement saying the country "completely rejects the negative, false and unacceptable assessment in the report pertaining to the Kingdom's leadership, and notes that the report contained inaccurate information and conclusions." It added that Khashoggi's killing was an "abhorrent crime and a flagrant violation of the kingdom's laws and values.

Saudi Arabia says it "completely rejects" a US intelligence report on the murder of Jamal Khashoggi that says Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman approved the operation to capture or kill the Saudi journalist.

"The Ministry notes that the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia completely rejects the negative, false and unacceptable assessment in the report pertaining to the Kingdom’s leadership, and notes that the report contained inaccurate information and conclusions," according to a statement on the official Saudi Press Agency.

The ministry added that it had previously called the incident "an abhorrent crime and a flagrant violation of the Kingdom’s laws and values." The statement said the kingdom thoroughly investigated any individuals involved.

The Saudi government emphasized in the statement that it was committed to a "robust and enduring partnership" with the US.

Despite promising to punish senior Saudi leaders while on the campaign trail, President Biden declined to punish the one the US intelligence community determined is responsible for the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi: Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. 

The choice not to punish Prince Mohammed directly puts into sharp relief the type of decision-making that becomes more complicated for a president versus a candidate, and demonstrates the difficulty in breaking with a troublesome ally in a volatile region.

On Friday: Biden's administration released an unclassified intelligence report on the Khashoggi's death, an action his predecessor refused to take as he downplayed US intelligence.

The report from the director of national intelligence says the crown prince, known as MBS, directly approved the killing of Khashoggi. But while a sanctions list from the Treasury Department listed a former deputy intelligence chief and the Saudi Royal Guard’s rapid intervention force, the crown prince wasn't listed. 

Two administration officials said there was a concern that sanctioning MBS was never really an option, operating under the belief it would have been “too complicated” and could have jeopardized US military interests in Saudi Arabia. As a result, the administration did not even request the State Department to work up options for how to target MBS with sanctions, one State Department official said. 

State Department officials said that the Biden administration made a point not to upend any working-level discussions between the two countries because the security relationship is so important.

More context: In November 2019, Biden promised to punish senior Saudi leaders in a way former President Trump wouldn't. 

"Yes," he said when directly asked if he would, "And I said it at the time. Khashoggi was, in fact, murdered and dismembered, and I believe on the order of the crown prince. And I would make it very clear we were not going to, in fact, sell more weapons to them, we were going to, in fact, make them pay the price and make them the pariah that they are."

The US Treasury slapped sanctions on the Saudi Rapid Intervention Force known as the "Tiger Squad" and former deputy head of Saudi General Intelligence Presidency for their role in the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The Rapid Intervention Force was mentioned in the US intelligence report on the murder of Khashoggi which was declassified today.

“The RIF-a subset of the Saudi Royal Guard-exists to defend the Crown Prince, answers only to him, and had directly participated in earlier dissident suppression operations in the Kingdom and abroad at the Crown Prince's direction. We judge that members of the RIF would not have participated in the operation against Khashoggi without Muhammad bin Salman's approval,” the Office of the Director of National Intelligence report wrote.

Secretary of State Tony Blinken announced a new “Khashoggi Ban,” which includes visa restrictions on 76 Saudi individuals believed to be involved in “threatening dissidents overseas, including but not limited to the Khashoggi killing,” he said in statement just after a long-awaited report on the murder of Jamal Khashoggi was declassified. 

Blinken made it clear that these Saudi individuals will not be allowed to visit the US. The names of the list were not disclosed which is the normal policy of the State Department.

“As a matter of safety for all within our borders, perpetrators targeting perceived dissidents on behalf of any foreign government should not be permitted to reach American soil,” Blinken said.

The 76 Saudi individuals subject to visa restrictions “believed to have been engaged in threatening dissidents overseas, including but not limited to the Khashoggi killing,” Blinken said.

He said that these visa restrictions, in conjunction with the report, will reinforce condemnation of Khashoggi’s murder.

He said that the actions taken fit in the context of the Biden administration’s grander thinking on Saudi Arabia. 

“While the United States remains invested in its relationship with Saudi Arabia, President Biden has made clear that partnership must reflect U.S. values. To that end, we have made absolutely clear that extraterritorial threats and assaults by Saudi Arabia against activists, dissidents, and journalists must end. They will not be tolerated by the United States,” Blinken said.

He also said that the State Department will now “report on any such extraterritorial activities by any government in our annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. The United States will continue to shine a light on any government that targets individuals, either domestically or extraterritorially, merely for exercising their human rights and fundamental freedoms.”