None of those 15 guys should be anywhere near each other in the future, unless they’re all going for a day trip to visit Salisbury Cathedral. And guys who travel with their own bone saw do seem to be a bit fastidious.
One of the men on the list published by the newspaper, Sabah, is an autopsy expert at Saudi Arabia’s internal security agency, according to the two Turkish officials. Another appears to be a lieutenant in the Royal Saudi Air Force. The officials, citing confidential intelligence, said all worked for the Saudi government.
Turkish officials have said that Mr. Khashoggi was killed at the consulate and that his dismembered body was taken away — an allegation the Saudi government has vehemently denied. Mr. Khashoggi, a veteran Saudi commentator, United States resident and Washington Post columnist, had become a prominent critic of the kingdom’s rulers.
[...]
The Saudis have yet to produce video footage or other evidence supporting their contention that Mr. Khashoggi left the building.
Turkish officials have said, without offering evidence, that Mr. Khashoggi was killed within two hours of entering the consulate and dismembered with a bone saw brought for that purpose.
Although the Turkish allegations about Mr. Khashoggi’s killing have so far relied largely on confidential intelligence, Western intelligence agencies have generally regarded their Turkish counterparts as reliable on domestic matters.
Sabah published photographs of all 15 Saudis. One appears to be Salah Muhammad al-Tubaigy, the chief of forensic evidence and an autopsy expert in the public security directorate of the Interior Ministry. A photograph of a man entering Ataturk Airport shown in Sabah appears to match photos shared online of Mr. Tubaigy.
www.nytimes.com/...
Four senators move to invoke the Magnitsky Act in an interesting bit of triangulation especially if they’re seen the IC reports, plus Coker and Graham need to try to make us forget about their Kavanaugh Kourt votes.
Still not the beginning of the end.
NEW YORK MAGAZINE: "It is looking increasingly plausible that somebody in fact killed [Peter W. Smith]." Smith was the GOP operative who said he was working with Flynn, Bannon, Clovis, Conway, and Dark Web Russians to get stolen Clinton emails in mid-2016.
The Journal’s latest report fills in many new details about Smith’s work. Smith raised at least $100,000, from at least four wealthy donors, as part of his effort. Smith “went to extraordinary lengths to ensure the privacy and secrecy of his projects,” reports the Journal. Smith personally donated $50,000 to the effort, a generous gift for a man who, only months later, putatively faced so much financial distress that he killed himself for the life insurance money.
Most interestingly, the Journal got in touch with somebody who spoke with Smith shortly before his death. “Retired Wall Street financier Charles Ortel said he spoke with Mr. Smith on the phone in the hours before his death about a new project to brief the Obama Foundation and warn its leaders against the mistakes they believed were made by the Clinton Foundation,” reports the Journal. “According to Mr. Ortel, Mr. Smith sounded excited, and he began brainstorming who to contact and how to proceed.”
[...]
What does this have to do with the Russia investigation? Quite a bit, actually. It shows that Trump is willing not merely to skirt the law but to blatantly violate it. It reveals that he has been able to harbor enormous secrets even in the face of constant media coverage. And, most directly, it raises unanswered questions about his mysterious financial methods.
nymag.com/...