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U.S. President Joe Biden was the one who decided to make the report public, although he first called Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz.
A declassified United States intelligence report revealed on Friday that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved, and most likely ordered, the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, in 2018.
"We assessed that Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved the operation in Istanbul, Turkey, to capture or kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi," the report maintained.
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The U.S. intelligence report had long been leaked to the media, but had not yet been officially released.
U.S. President Joe Biden was the one who decided to make the report public, although he first called Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz.
US accuses MBS of ordering the operation that killed Khashoggi but will not sanction him because, Biden admin says, that would be "hostile" to the Saudi dictatorship. Remember this next time Biden claims to care about human rights or sanctions another country in the name of it. pic.twitter.com/6VXaJ9QY9w
— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) February 26, 2021
In response, both bin Salman and the Saudi kingdom denied having ordered the assassination, which took place in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Saudi authorities have claimed that the crime occurred at the hands of a team of "rogue agents" who were sent to Turkey to bring back to Saudi Arabia the journalist, who was living in exile in the United States.
For Khashoggi's murder, a court in Turkey tried and sentenced five people to 20 years in prison in September 2020.
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