US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has not heard any audio proving the alleged torture and death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, nor has any other US official, Turkey’s foreign minister has said.
At a press conference with his Albanian counterpart Ditmir Bushati, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu argued that he has never shared the audio recordings with US President Donald Trump’s right-hand-man Mike Pompeo.
However, Cavusoglu promised that Turkey would undoubtedly share the result of the investigation into the disappearance of dissident Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi with the world.
Khashoggi entered the Saudi Arabian consulate in the Turkish capital of Istanbul on October 2 and hasn’t re-emerged since. Turkish officials blame the Gulf country for the suspected killing of Khashoggi, who was a known critic of Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s regime. Saudi Arabia has denied all allegations, claiming Khashoggi left the embassy before disappearing.
Cavusoglu shot down claims by ABC news that Pompeo had listened to audio purportedly revealing a harrowing account of Khashoggi being brutally murdered.
He said Turkey handing such crucial intelligence material to Pompeo or any other US official was “out of the question.”
This was backed by the US State Department, whose spokeswoman Heather Nauert said: “Secretary Pompeo has neither heard a tape nor has he seen a transcript related to Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance.”
Pompeo himself refused to comment on the existence of the recording as he returned from a trip to Turkey and Saudi Arabia, where he met with top Turkish and Saudi officials, including King Salman and the Crown Prince to discuss the Washington Post journalist’s disappearance.
He told the Crown Prince that he had 72 hours to finish his probe into the alleged murder of Khashoggi if he didn’t want Saudi Arabia to tarnish the kingdom’s “place on the world stage,” Axios reports.
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