CIA Director Gina Haspel in Turkey to investigate Khashoggi murder

The Director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Gina Haspel has listened to audio capturing the interrogation and killing of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The CIA chiefs investigation will give a key member of President Donald Trump's administration access to the evidence used by Turkey to accuse Saudi Arabia of Khashoggi’s premeditated murder.

Haspel, who departed for a secret trip to Turkey on Monday, heard the audio during her visit to Istanbul, the Washington Post reported Wednesday, citing people familiar with her meetings.

Haspel is scheduled to brief Trump on Thursday.

Trump, who has made Saudi Arabia a central pillar of his Middle East strategy, has expressed skepticism about Riyadh’s claim that Khashoggi’s murder was a “rogue operation” that occurred after a fistfight broke out in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 2.

On Tuesday, Trump said Saudi officials had engaged in the “worst coverup ever” and that those behind the killing “should be in big trouble.”

A person familiar with the audio said it was “compelling” and could put more pressure on the United States to punish Saudi Arabia for the death of Khashoggi.

“This puts the ball firmly in Washington’s court,” Bruce Riedel, a former CIA official and scholar at the Brookings Institution, told the Washington Post. “Not only will there be more pressure now from the media but Congress will say, ‘Gina, we would love to have you come visit and you can tell us exactly what you heard.’ ”

Khashoggi was a Washington Post columnist and lived in the US, having fled Saudi Arabia in September last year.

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