CIA director to brief senators on Khashoggi killing

CIA Director Gina Haspel is set to brief senators on details of the brutal killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a report said Monday.

Haspel will speak with members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Armed Services Committee on Tuesday — to disclose what the CIA knows about Khashoggi’s death, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Haspel was not present last week during a briefing on Saudi Arabia by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis.

Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and American resident, was murdered and dismembered minutes after he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey on Oct. 2 — allegedly on orders from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The CIA has determined that bin Salman was heavily involved in the decision to kill Khashoggi.

Despite their assessment, President Trump has been wary of laying the blame on the Saudi royal.

This is not the only time Trump appears to have disputed the conclusion of his own intelligence agencies. Trump has refused to acknowledge the evidence that Russia was behind the hacking and interference of the 2016 presidential election.

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