Why Does Pompeo Pretend US Intelligence Hasn’t Told Trump What Happened in Khashoggi Case?
On Thursday morning, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, after meeting with President Donald Trump, said that before deciding on how to respond to the crisis, the United States will give Saudi Arabia a few more days to “conduct a complete, thorough investigation” into the disappearance—and likely murder—of Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist and American resident. This was consistent with the easy-on-Riyadh line that Trump and Pompeo had been taking. On Wednesday, Pompeo told reporters that he was waiting for the Saudis—who already apparently lied about the case earlier when they insisted that Khashoggi had left their consulate in Istanbul—to do their thing: “We’re going to give them the space to complete their investigations of this incident, and when they issue their reports, we’ll form our judgment.” And Trump—who initially cautioned against blaming the Saudis for Khashoggi’s disappearance—has also indicated that he is content to sit back and wait for information from the Saudis before reaching any conclusions.
All this give-the-Saudis-a-chance talk ignores a key player in the case: US intelligence. ...