The CIA knew who ordered Khashoggi’s murder within weeks. Trump buried the report. Biden fist-bumped him. He met Trump in the Oval Office in 2025. 0 consequences. All documented.
The CIA knew who ordered Khashoggi’s murder within weeks. Trump buried the report. Biden fist-bumped him. He met Trump in the Oval Office in 2025. 0 consequences. All documented.
This is Day 5 of The Khashoggi Web. Today covers the murder itself, who ordered it, who carried it out, what the recordings captured, and where every person involved is right now.
The Order
On October 2, 2018, Jamal Khashoggi walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to get paperwork for his upcoming marriage. His fiancée Hatice Cengiz waited outside holding his phones. He never came out.
In February 2021, the ODNI released a four-page declassified assessment. The conclusion was not ambiguous: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved an operation to capture or kill Khashoggi. The CIA had reached that conclusion with high confidence. The report originally named 21 individuals. Three names were quietly removed from the public release within hours, with no explanation. MBS was not sanctioned.
The Team
Two private Gulfstream jets departed Riyadh the night of October 1-2. Tail numbers HZ-SK1 and HZ-SK2, both registered to Sky Prime Aviation, a company the Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund had seized on MBS’s personal orders in 2017. State-owned aircraft. State-funded operation.
Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb led the team on the ground. He was a senior Royal Guard and RIF officer who had been photographed personally with MBS on five international trips in 2018 alone. He is currently serving a 20-year sentence inside a Riyadh State Security compound.
Dr. Salah al-Tubaigy flew in as the forensic specialist. He was the sitting head of the Saudi Scientific Council of Forensics. Turkish intelligence audio captured him discussing dismemberment before Khashoggi entered the building. He mentioned he listens to music while he works. He received 20 years. He is currently in the same Riyadh compound, with gym access and family visits.
Mustafa al-Madani was the body double. He was 57 years old with a similar build to Khashoggi. After the killing he walked out the consulate’s back door wearing Khashoggi’s dark suit, glasses, and gold watch. Surveillance cameras at the Blue Mosque caught him changing back into his own clothes in a public restroom. He had forgotten one detail: Khashoggi wore black Oxford shoes. Al-Madani was wearing black-and-white Nike sneakers.
Saud al-Qahtani ran digital operations for the Royal Court and was MBS’s primary enforcer against dissidents. The UN report stated he demanded the abduction of Khashoggi. The Istanbul prosecutor charged him with instigating premeditated murder. Saudi Arabia investigated and dropped all charges for insufficient evidence. As of June 2023, he was back at official Royal Court functions. He is fully U.S. Treasury sanctioned and fully free.
Ahmad al-Asiri was Deputy Head of Saudi General Intelligence. The U.S. Treasury called him the ringleader who dispatched the 15-man team. Istanbul charged him with instigating premeditated murder with monstrous intent. Saudi verdict: acquitted, insufficient evidence. He is now in a senior security advisory role in Saudi Arabia. An Interpol Red Notice is active against him, which means he cannot travel internationally without risk of arrest. He has not been arrested.
Mohammed al-Otaibi was the Saudi Consul-General in Istanbul. The UN report described him as intimately involved in preparations. He personally ordered Turkish consulate staff to take an early holiday the morning of October 2nd, clearing the building of witnesses. Saudi verdict: acquitted.
Seven members of MBS’s Rapid Intervention Force rounded out the team. The ODNI assessment describes the RIF as a unit that exists to defend the Crown Prince and answers only to him, with a history of dissident suppression operations abroad. The unit is sanctioned as an entity on the U.S. SDN list under Unit 1103. It remains operational.
The Recording
The Saudi consulate had been secretly bugged by Turkish intelligence. The team arrived, set up their equipment, and spoke freely. They did not know they were being recorded.
The UN Callamard Report analyzed the audio in detail. At 1:02 PM, twelve minutes before Khashoggi’s arrival, Mutreb asked whether the sacrificial animal had arrived. Al-Tubaigy discussed how he had never worked on a warm body before but would manage.
At 1:14 PM, Khashoggi entered. Mutreb told him there was an order from Interpol and that he had to return to Saudi Arabia. Khashoggi said there were no lawsuits against him and that his fiancée was waiting outside. Mutreb told him to leave a message for his son. Khashoggi refused.
At approximately 1:17 PM the struggle began. His last recorded words were: “I have asthma. Do not do it. You will suffocate me.”
Twenty-five minutes after he entered the building, the audio captured the sound of an autopsy saw.
At 2:53 PM, al-Madani left through the back door in Khashoggi’s clothes. At 3:00 PM, a black van left for the Consul-General’s residence two kilometers away. Surveillance captured five large suitcases and two black bags being carried into the garage.
Khashoggi’s body has never been found. Saudi Arabia told investigators it was given to a local collaborator. No name, no location, no remains. Turkish investigators theorized incineration or acid dissolution at the residence. The Saudi court never addressed the question of disposal.
The Suppression
The CIA reached its conclusion with high confidence in November 2018, within weeks of the murder. Trump publicly said the CIA had nothing definitive.
Congress passed the FY2020 National Defense Authorization Act with a provision requiring the ODNI to release an unclassified report within 30 days identifying those responsible. The Trump administration ignored the deadline, citing executive discretion and the protection of intelligence sources and methods.
On December 4, 2018, CIA Director Gina Haspel briefed Senate leadership after reviewing the intelligence in Turkey. Senator Lindsey Graham walked out and said you would have to be willfully blind not to conclude the operation was orchestrated by people under MBS’s command. Senator Bob Corker said he had zero question the crown prince directed the murder and that a jury would convict in 30 minutes.
The Senate then passed S.Res.714, the first time the chamber had formally named a sitting foreign head of state as responsible for a murder. It passed unanimously. The White House ignored it.
On January 22, 2020, Trump told Bob Woodward on tape: “I saved his ass. I was able to get Congress to leave him alone. I was able to get them to stop.” He was referring to MBS. The quote appears on page 227 of Woodward’s book Rage.
The report stayed classified for two more years. In February 2021, Biden released it. MBS was not sanctioned. The State Department called the response a recalibration. In July 2022, Biden flew to Jeddah and fist-bumped MBS on camera.
In September 2022, MBS was appointed Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia, a move that provided additional immunity from international prosecution under standard diplomatic law. In November 2025, he visited President Trump in the Oval Office. Trump told reporters MBS knew nothing about it. The CIA’s assessment has not changed.
The Trial
Saudi Arabia tried 11 people. In secret. Foreign diplomats were admitted only after swearing to secrecy. The names of the defendants were never officially released. The court found the killing was not premeditated and had occurred in the spur of the moment.
The forensic doctor had arrived 24 hours early with a bone saw. The body double had flown in with clothes matched to Khashoggi’s description. The consulate had been cleared of witnesses that morning.
UN Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard called the proceedings the antithesis of justice. Five unnamed footsoldiers were sentenced to death. In May 2020, Khashoggi’s children, who had received houses and monthly payments exceeding $10,000 from the Saudi government, announced they forgave the killers. The death sentences were commuted to 20 years. Current location: a luxury security compound in Riyadh.
In April 2022, Turkey transferred its own case to Saudi Arabia as part of diplomatic normalization with Riyadh, ending the only public trial. Hatice Cengiz called it a scandalous betrayal of justice.
Where They Are Now
MBS is Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia. Not sanctioned. Not charged.
Al-Qahtani is back at the Royal Court. Sanctioned. Free.
Al-Asiri is in a senior security role in Riyadh. Sanctioned. Free.
Al-Tubaigy and Mutreb are both in a Riyadh security compound. Convicted. Living in villas.
Khashoggi’s body has never been recovered.
15 men were dispatched to murder a journalist. 2 senior planners were prosecuted and both acquitted. 5 footsoldiers were sentenced to death, all pardoned, all in villas. 0 people are currently in a standard prison for this murder. 0 remains have ever been recovered. In January 2026, the United States approved a $9 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia.
Day 6 tomorrow: The Money
Documents first.
[deleted] on
[deleted]
mellowfellow0 on
For those who dont know:
Jamal Kashouggi was an anti-saudi journalist and he was killed in a Saudi embassy in Turkey.
LouMinotti on
Simply referring to Khashoggi as a “journalist” is quite shortsighted. I’m not justifying anything the Saudis did but it’s not as simple as *he was just a journalist they didn’t like*.
EuphoricEgg63063 on
Bro. Cmon. Everyone fucking knew this.
Horse_White on
Everyone knew right away who gave the order, it wasn’t a secret – it was a message! Khashoggi was part of the circle that killed him when he did not want to play along anymore, so he got what he had coming.
6 Comments
This is Day 5 of The Khashoggi Web. Today covers the murder itself, who ordered it, who carried it out, what the recordings captured, and where every person involved is right now.
The Order
On October 2, 2018, Jamal Khashoggi walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to get paperwork for his upcoming marriage. His fiancée Hatice Cengiz waited outside holding his phones. He never came out.
In February 2021, the ODNI released a four-page declassified assessment. The conclusion was not ambiguous: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved an operation to capture or kill Khashoggi. The CIA had reached that conclusion with high confidence. The report originally named 21 individuals. Three names were quietly removed from the public release within hours, with no explanation. MBS was not sanctioned.
The Team
Two private Gulfstream jets departed Riyadh the night of October 1-2. Tail numbers HZ-SK1 and HZ-SK2, both registered to Sky Prime Aviation, a company the Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund had seized on MBS’s personal orders in 2017. State-owned aircraft. State-funded operation.
Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb led the team on the ground. He was a senior Royal Guard and RIF officer who had been photographed personally with MBS on five international trips in 2018 alone. He is currently serving a 20-year sentence inside a Riyadh State Security compound.
Dr. Salah al-Tubaigy flew in as the forensic specialist. He was the sitting head of the Saudi Scientific Council of Forensics. Turkish intelligence audio captured him discussing dismemberment before Khashoggi entered the building. He mentioned he listens to music while he works. He received 20 years. He is currently in the same Riyadh compound, with gym access and family visits.
Mustafa al-Madani was the body double. He was 57 years old with a similar build to Khashoggi. After the killing he walked out the consulate’s back door wearing Khashoggi’s dark suit, glasses, and gold watch. Surveillance cameras at the Blue Mosque caught him changing back into his own clothes in a public restroom. He had forgotten one detail: Khashoggi wore black Oxford shoes. Al-Madani was wearing black-and-white Nike sneakers.
Saud al-Qahtani ran digital operations for the Royal Court and was MBS’s primary enforcer against dissidents. The UN report stated he demanded the abduction of Khashoggi. The Istanbul prosecutor charged him with instigating premeditated murder. Saudi Arabia investigated and dropped all charges for insufficient evidence. As of June 2023, he was back at official Royal Court functions. He is fully U.S. Treasury sanctioned and fully free.
Ahmad al-Asiri was Deputy Head of Saudi General Intelligence. The U.S. Treasury called him the ringleader who dispatched the 15-man team. Istanbul charged him with instigating premeditated murder with monstrous intent. Saudi verdict: acquitted, insufficient evidence. He is now in a senior security advisory role in Saudi Arabia. An Interpol Red Notice is active against him, which means he cannot travel internationally without risk of arrest. He has not been arrested.
Mohammed al-Otaibi was the Saudi Consul-General in Istanbul. The UN report described him as intimately involved in preparations. He personally ordered Turkish consulate staff to take an early holiday the morning of October 2nd, clearing the building of witnesses. Saudi verdict: acquitted.
Seven members of MBS’s Rapid Intervention Force rounded out the team. The ODNI assessment describes the RIF as a unit that exists to defend the Crown Prince and answers only to him, with a history of dissident suppression operations abroad. The unit is sanctioned as an entity on the U.S. SDN list under Unit 1103. It remains operational.
The Recording
The Saudi consulate had been secretly bugged by Turkish intelligence. The team arrived, set up their equipment, and spoke freely. They did not know they were being recorded.
The UN Callamard Report analyzed the audio in detail. At 1:02 PM, twelve minutes before Khashoggi’s arrival, Mutreb asked whether the sacrificial animal had arrived. Al-Tubaigy discussed how he had never worked on a warm body before but would manage.
At 1:14 PM, Khashoggi entered. Mutreb told him there was an order from Interpol and that he had to return to Saudi Arabia. Khashoggi said there were no lawsuits against him and that his fiancée was waiting outside. Mutreb told him to leave a message for his son. Khashoggi refused.
At approximately 1:17 PM the struggle began. His last recorded words were: “I have asthma. Do not do it. You will suffocate me.”
Twenty-five minutes after he entered the building, the audio captured the sound of an autopsy saw.
At 2:53 PM, al-Madani left through the back door in Khashoggi’s clothes. At 3:00 PM, a black van left for the Consul-General’s residence two kilometers away. Surveillance captured five large suitcases and two black bags being carried into the garage.
Khashoggi’s body has never been found. Saudi Arabia told investigators it was given to a local collaborator. No name, no location, no remains. Turkish investigators theorized incineration or acid dissolution at the residence. The Saudi court never addressed the question of disposal.
The Suppression
The CIA reached its conclusion with high confidence in November 2018, within weeks of the murder. Trump publicly said the CIA had nothing definitive.
Congress passed the FY2020 National Defense Authorization Act with a provision requiring the ODNI to release an unclassified report within 30 days identifying those responsible. The Trump administration ignored the deadline, citing executive discretion and the protection of intelligence sources and methods.
On December 4, 2018, CIA Director Gina Haspel briefed Senate leadership after reviewing the intelligence in Turkey. Senator Lindsey Graham walked out and said you would have to be willfully blind not to conclude the operation was orchestrated by people under MBS’s command. Senator Bob Corker said he had zero question the crown prince directed the murder and that a jury would convict in 30 minutes.
The Senate then passed S.Res.714, the first time the chamber had formally named a sitting foreign head of state as responsible for a murder. It passed unanimously. The White House ignored it.
On January 22, 2020, Trump told Bob Woodward on tape: “I saved his ass. I was able to get Congress to leave him alone. I was able to get them to stop.” He was referring to MBS. The quote appears on page 227 of Woodward’s book Rage.
The report stayed classified for two more years. In February 2021, Biden released it. MBS was not sanctioned. The State Department called the response a recalibration. In July 2022, Biden flew to Jeddah and fist-bumped MBS on camera.
In September 2022, MBS was appointed Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia, a move that provided additional immunity from international prosecution under standard diplomatic law. In November 2025, he visited President Trump in the Oval Office. Trump told reporters MBS knew nothing about it. The CIA’s assessment has not changed.
The Trial
Saudi Arabia tried 11 people. In secret. Foreign diplomats were admitted only after swearing to secrecy. The names of the defendants were never officially released. The court found the killing was not premeditated and had occurred in the spur of the moment.
The forensic doctor had arrived 24 hours early with a bone saw. The body double had flown in with clothes matched to Khashoggi’s description. The consulate had been cleared of witnesses that morning.
UN Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard called the proceedings the antithesis of justice. Five unnamed footsoldiers were sentenced to death. In May 2020, Khashoggi’s children, who had received houses and monthly payments exceeding $10,000 from the Saudi government, announced they forgave the killers. The death sentences were commuted to 20 years. Current location: a luxury security compound in Riyadh.
In April 2022, Turkey transferred its own case to Saudi Arabia as part of diplomatic normalization with Riyadh, ending the only public trial. Hatice Cengiz called it a scandalous betrayal of justice.
Where They Are Now
MBS is Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia. Not sanctioned. Not charged.
Al-Qahtani is back at the Royal Court. Sanctioned. Free.
Al-Asiri is in a senior security role in Riyadh. Sanctioned. Free.
Al-Tubaigy and Mutreb are both in a Riyadh security compound. Convicted. Living in villas.
Khashoggi’s body has never been recovered.
15 men were dispatched to murder a journalist. 2 senior planners were prosecuted and both acquitted. 5 footsoldiers were sentenced to death, all pardoned, all in villas. 0 people are currently in a standard prison for this murder. 0 remains have ever been recovered. In January 2026, the United States approved a $9 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia.
Day 6 tomorrow: The Money
Documents first.
[deleted]
For those who dont know:
Jamal Kashouggi was an anti-saudi journalist and he was killed in a Saudi embassy in Turkey.
Simply referring to Khashoggi as a “journalist” is quite shortsighted. I’m not justifying anything the Saudis did but it’s not as simple as *he was just a journalist they didn’t like*.
Bro. Cmon. Everyone fucking knew this.
Everyone knew right away who gave the order, it wasn’t a secret – it was a message! Khashoggi was part of the circle that killed him when he did not want to play along anymore, so he got what he had coming.