A potential bombshell in the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. CNN is reporting that the Saudi government is preparing to admit Khashoggi was killed.

https://twitter.com/joshscampbell/status/1051913576456175617

This comes a short time after Donald Trump said Saudi Arabia’s King Salman told him he has no knowledge about what happened to Khashoggi. He even went a step further saying that King Salman said, “it sounded like maybe these could have been rogue killers, who knows.” Since the word “killers” was used, this would suggest Salman already knew Khashoggi was indeed dead.

Trump also tweeted:

“Just spoke to the King of Saudi Arabia who denies any knowledge of whatever may have happened “to our Saudi Arabian citizen.” He said that they are working closely with Turkey to find answer. I am immediately sending our Secretary of State to meet with King!”

Slate has an interesting take on this saying:

So it could have been the Saudis, or it could have been an independently operating team of murderers who knew where Khashoggi was going to be that day and were able to find him and kill him inside what were presumably secure Saudi government buildings.

Saudi Arabia, incidentally, has been involved in multiple investment and lobbying deals that were financially beneficial to individuals close to Trump.

As for Saudi Arabia’s take on the call between Trump and Salman, it is interesting to note that the readout minimizes what Trump asked (or didn’t ask) about Khashoggi and it seems much of the chat was about “bilateral relations.”