“I love journalists, that’s why I may organize a special banquet for them this evening at the Saudi embassy.”
— Czech president Miloš Zeman, quoted by Euro News, apparently alluding to Saudi columnist Jamal Khashoggi’s death at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
“The Trump administration has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin for a visit to Washington in early 2019,” USA Today reports.
“The invitation was announced Friday by National Security Advisor John Bolton during a news conference in Tbilisi, Georgia, just days after meeting with Putin and other Kremlin officials in Moscow to discuss the U.S. withdrawing from a Cold-War era nuclear weapons treaty.”
“Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), one of the most outspoken critics of President Trump in the Senate Republican Conference, is due to relinquish the Foreign Relations Committee gavel to Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID), a Trump loyalist who will be much more likely to defend the president next year,” The Hill reports.
“The looming leadership change on the committee could make it more difficult for Corker to press the administration on its Saudi Arabia policy, which is under increased scrutiny following the death of U.S.-based Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.”
“The Trump administration is drastically cutting back on who on Capitol Hill gets to see intelligence reports on North Korea’s nuclear weapons program,” CBS News reports.
“Under the new rules, only each party’s House and Senate leaders, along with chairs and ranking members of foreign relations and intelligence committees, get direct access to the reports. It is a drastic change from previous distribution of North Korea related intelligence reports which, for the most part, gave access to the entire committees and the staffers on those committees.”
Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor said that Jamal Khashoggi was killed in a planned operation, based on information it received from Turkish investigators in Istanbul, reversing earlier statement that the journalist had died in fistfight, the Washington Post reports.
CIA Director Gina Haspel listened to audio purportedly capturing the interrogation and killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, giving a key member of President Trump’s Cabinet access to the evidence used by Turkey to accuse Saudi Arabia of premeditated murder, the Washington Post reports.
A person familiar with the audio said it was “compelling” and could put more pressure on the United States to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for the death of Khashoggi.
President Trump was asked by reporters about Saudi officials killing journalist Jamal Khashoggi:
REPORTER: Mr. President, why do you think something like this could have happened? Do you think that there was a failure at the leadership on the world stage, that Saudi Arabia wasn’t concerned about the ramifications?
TRUMP: They had a very bad original concept. It was carried out poorly. And the cover-up was one of the worst in the history of cover-ups. Very simple. Bad deal. Should have never been thought of. Somebody really messed up. And they had the worst cover-up ever. And where it should have stopped is at the deal standpoint, where they thought about it. Because whoever thought of that idea I think is in big trouble, and they should be in big trouble. Okay?
“Body parts belonging to murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi have been found,” according to Sky News.
Sources said the writer had been “cut up” and his face “disfigured.”
“One source also suggested Mr Khashoggi’s remains were discovered in the garden of the Saudi consul general’s home — situated around 500 meters away from the consulate.”
“Korean police have warned Korean residents in Canada not to smoke marijuana, saying those who ignore the warning could face criminal charges when they return to their home country,” the Korea Times reports.
“President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, having promised to reveal the ‘naked truth’ of a Saudi plot to kill the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, said on Tuesday that a team including Saudi generals had flown in to carry out the mission,” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Erdogan’s much-anticipated address came after more than two weeks of carefully orchestrated leaks to the media by Turkey that implicated the highest levels of the government of Saudi Arabia in the death of Mr. Khashoggi.”
Said Erdogan: “Covering up this kind of savagery will hurt the conscience of all humanity. Saudi Arabia took an important step by accepting the murder. After this, we expect them to reveal those responsible for this matter.”
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin met with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday, illustrating how the White House is retaining close ties with the embattled Middle Eastern leader despite a growing international outcry, the Washington Post reports.
Mnuchin opted not to attend an investment conference in Saudi Arabia this week amid uproar about the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.
“I’ve been the leading supporter along with John McCain of the U.S.-Saudi relationship. I feel completely betrayed.”
— Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), quoted by CNN.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he’ll “go into details” about the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at meeting of his AKP party’s parliamentary group on Tuesday, Bloomberg reports.
Said Erdogan: “Why did 15 people come here, why did 18 people get arrested? All of this must be explained with all details.”
A member of the Saudi “hit squad” which apparently carried out the murder of Jamal Khashoggi was seen on surveillance video dressed up in the writer’s clothes on the day he was killed, CNN reports.
President Trump’s decision to withdraw from a nuclear disarmament treaty with Russia drew sharp criticism Sunday from one of the men who signed it — Mikhail Gorbachev, the New York Times reports.
Said Gorbachev: “Under no circumstances should we tear up old disarmament agreements. Is it really that hard to understand that rejecting these agreements is, as the people say, not the work of a great mind.”
Jonathan Swan: “President Trump has no intention of easing his tariffs on China, according to three sources with knowledge of his private conversations. Instead, these sources say he wants Chinese leaders to feel more pain from his tariffs — which he believes need more time to fully kick in.”
“Trump’s trade war with China is at the ‘beginning of the beginning,’ according to a source familiar with Trump’s conversations. And his team doesn’t expect much from the tentatively planned meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Buenos Aires next month.”
“The Trump economic team has done no substantive planning so far for the bilateral meeting’s agenda, largely because the purpose of the meeting is for Trump and Xi to reconnect, eyeball each other, and feel each other out amid their escalating trade war.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Wonk Wire, Political Job Hunt and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
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