Saudi officials arrive in Turkey for talks on missing journalist

A Saudi Arabian delegation arrived in Turkey on Friday as part of an investigation into the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi from the Saudi consulate in Istanbul earlier this month, according to the Associated Press.

Turkish officials claim the frequent critic of the Saudi government and contributor to The Washington Post was killed in the consulate on orders from the Saudi government. Riyadh has denied the claim. 

{mosads}The Washington Post on Thursday reported that recordings of Saudi consulate officials in Turkey obtained by Turkish investigators and shared with their U.S. counterparts detail how Khashoggi, a U.S. resident, was tortured, killed and dismembered by a Saudi Arabian security team.

The disappearance has thrust a wedge in the typically close U.S.-Saudi relationship.

“Well it would be a really sad thing, and we will probably know in the very short future,” President Trump said when asked about the investigation Thursday morning on Fox News. “We don’t like it. I don’t like it. No good.”

Republicans on Capitol Hill went even further, directly pointing the finger at the Saudi Royal Court, and possibly at 33-year-old Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, who has cast himself as a reformer but has taken a hard line against dissent in the country.

“If it’s found that they, as everything indicates today … murdered a journalist, that will hugely change our relationship. I mean, there’s no question about it,” Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters Thursday.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said on Thursday that it is “likely” Khashoggi is dead.

“With every passing day it looks increasingly likely that he’s dead and the most logical explanation is that he went into the consulate and he never came out and the Saudis had something to do with it,” Graham said on CNN.

“All the indicators point to Saudi Arabia, and if it turns out to be Saudi Arabia, as I’ve said before, there’ll be hell to pay,” he added. 

The disappearance has also led to several prominent journalists announcing they will no longer be attending the Future Investment Initiative event in Riyadh later this month.