Jared Kushner says his friend Mohammed bin Salman, suspected of ordering Khashoggi's killing, has made 'missteps' but is a 'good ally'
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Jared Kushner told Newsweek that Saudi Arabia has made "missteps" under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, but is still a "very good ally."
Kusher has developed a friendship with Prince Mohammed, the de facto ruler of the Saudi kingdom who has spent the past several years consolidating power and arresting dissidents.
The Trump administration has repeatedly refused to blame Prince Mohammed for the brutal killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, rejecting bipartisan calls for the US to reevaluate its relationship with Riyadh.
Khashoggi was killed and dismembered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by agents of the Saudi government in October 2018.
The CIA reportedly concluded Prince Mohammed ordered Khashoggi's killing, and a UN report released in June 2019 implicated the Saudi ruler in the killing.
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Jared Kushner's support for the kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman remains unwavering.
The White House senior adviser in a new interview with Newsweek said that under the leadership Prince Mohammed, who's widely suspected of ordering the brutal killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi Arabia has made "missteps" but is still a "very good ally."
"There have been a couple of missteps," Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law, said of the Saudis and Prince Mohammed (also known as MBS). "But they've been a very good ally," Kushner added.
Khashoggi, a Saudi national who came to the US and wrote columns for the Washington Post after being barred from reporting in his own country, was killed and dismembered by at the Turkish consulate in Istanbul in October 2018. He was often critical of the Saudi government in his reporting.
The Saudi journalist was blocked from writing and making public appearances by the Saudi royal family after he criticized Trump in late 2016. Khashoggi had rebuked Trump's stance and rhetoric on the Middle East in an appearance at a Washington, DC, think tank. "The expectation that 'Trump as president' will be starkly different from 'Trump as candidate' is a false hope at best," Khashoggi said at the time.
Khashoggi's killing shook the US-Saudi relationship to its core, leading to bipartisan calls in Congress for Washington to rethink its longtime strategic partnership with Riyadh.
But the Trump administration has continued to stand by the Saudi kingdom and MBS, with Kushner leading the way in that regard. Kushner and MBS have developed a friendship, and the Saudi crown prince — the de facto ruler of the kingdom — reportedly once boasted he has the president's son-in-law "in his pocket."
Trump has forcefully defended the administration's relationship with MBS despite the fact the CIA reportedly concluded that the Saudi ruler ordered Khashoggi's killing.
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A United Nations report released in June 2019 also implicated MBS in Khashoggi's killing. "This human rights inquiry has shown that there is sufficient credible evidence regarding the responsibility of the Crown Prince demanding further investigation," UN Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard said at the time. The report concluded Khashoggi's killing "constituted an extrajudicial killing for which the state of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is responsible".
In a June 2019 interview with Axios, Kushner also refused to blame MBS for Khashoggi's killing.
"Look, it's a horrific thing that happened…Once we have all the facts, then we'll make a policy determination, but that would be up to the Secretary of State to push on our policy," Kushner said at the time.
MBS, who has spent the past several years consolidating power and arresting dissidents, has vehemently denied any direct or personal involvement in Khashoggi's killing. The Saudi government has offered inconsistent explanations on Khashoggi's fate. The Saudis initially denied any knowledge of Khashoggi's whereabouts, before ultimately admitted he was killed in the Istanbul consulate, which the Saudi foreign minister blamed on "rogue individuals." Khashoggi had entered the consulate to obtain papers necessary to marry his Turkish fiancée, Hatice Cengiz.
In December, a Saudi court sentenced five people to death in relation to Khashoggi's killing. The Saudis put 11 people on trial over the killing, with three others sentenced to a combined total of 24 years in prison.
Callamard, the UN investigator, decried the trial as a "mockery of justice."
"The fact that that the chain of command and the state have not been investigated means that the system that made it possible for Jamal Khashoggi to be killed has not been touched," Callamard said at the time.
Reuters
Beyond Khashoggi's killing, congressional lawmakers have also repeatedly raised concerns about US support for the Saudis in Yemen.
MBS is the architect of the Saudi-led coalition's war in Yemen, which has catalyzed a devastating humanitarian crisis. The Trump administration has rejected legislative efforts to end US support for the Saudis in Yemen while repeatedly touting US arms sales to Riyadh.
Khashoggi, who had previously served as an adviser to the Saudi royal family for decades, was highly critical of both MBS and the Saudi war in Yemen in his reporting.
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