Credit: Wikipedia / Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Gina Haspel.

Gary Raynaldo    DIPLOMATIC TIMES

CIA Director Gina Haspel’s absence from a closed-door briefing Wednesday on the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi sparked controversy with some lawmakers accusing the Trump Administration of a “cover- up.”  The CIA director was noticeably absent during a Capital Hill briefing on U.S.-Saudi relations. This is all the more remarkable as it was the CIA which concluded  that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the assassination of Khashoggiin Istanbul last month, contradicting the Saudi government’s claims that he was not involved in the killing. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., accused the Trump administration of engaging in a “cover-up” by refusing to allow Haspel to participate in the session.  

 “Not having Gina Haspel, the CIA director, at this briefing is a cover-up to a critical question that the members of the Senate have as to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. “It’s outrageous that the Senate can be stonewalled from hearing from the CIA director.”

Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J

President Trump as well as the  U.S. Department of State did not endorse the CIA’s report.   It appears Trump is adopting a “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil” approach to the Khashoggi incident.

Credit wikepedia / U. S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Here is excerpt from Pompeo’s press conference Nov. 28, 2018.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, you’re the former CIA director. Why wasn’t the current CIA director here briefing senators as well?

SECRETARY POMPEO: I was asked to be here and here I am.

QUESTION: (Inaudible.) Senators were very frustrated. Normally, in your past role as CIA director, you would be here briefing these senators on an issue this sensitive. Why isn’t the CIA director  herself here today?

SECRETARY POMPEO: I was asked to be here, and I’m here.

QUESTION: (Off-mike.)

QUESTION: Secretary Pompeo (inaudible) you’ve seen all the intelligence, presumably. Do you believe that the crown prince of Saudi Arabia ordered Jamal Khashoggi’s killing?

SECRETARY POMPEO:   I do believe I’ve read every piece of intelligence. Unless it’s come in in the last few hours, I think I have read it all. There is no direct reporting connecting the crown prince to the order to murder Jamal Khashoggi. And that’s all I can say in an unclassified setting.

Source: U.S. Department of State.