Jamal Khashoggi Killed at Consulate in Istanbul, Investigation Begins; Large Migration Making Way to United States
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Saudi Arabia admitting that journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now they're engage Friday a cover-up to protect the crown Prince. It's almost like a classic mafia operation.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I think it's a good first step.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Saudis very clearly seem to be buying time and buying cover, but this action raises more questions than it answers.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thousands of migrants making their way to Mexico, even breaking through a steel fence that had been padlocked shut.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The crowd has managed to shove the padlocked gates open.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're not criminals. We come here because we want to work.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump is the anti-Christ, this man says. If he doesn't repent, he's going to hell. We are not criminals.</s>LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN HOST: Good morning to everyone. I am Leyla Santiago in for Christi Paul this morning. VICTOR BLACKWELL I'm Victor Blackwell. Good to have you this morning with us.</s>SANTIAGO: Thank you for having me.</s>BLACKWELL: All right, top story this morning, utter B.S. That's the response from his editor at the "Washington Post" after Saudi officials confirmed the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.</s>SANTIAGO: Authorities in Saudi Arabia now claim that Khashoggi died after being placed in choke hold during a fist fight with security forces inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Now more than a dozen Saudis have been taken into custody in connection with his death. Thousands of migrants on the Guatemala-Mexico border stuck on a bridge. Take a look at that incredible video. That is the river between two nations -- Mexico and Guatemala. The massive caravan bound for the U.S. was forced to stop by Mexican police in riot gear yesterday.</s>BLACKWELL: And a Russian woman is facing Federal charges for allegedly financing a troll operation to interfere in the upcoming midterm elections. We'll start with the death of Jamal Khashoggi. We have reporters across the globe gathering the latest on this developing story.</s>SANTIAGO: We begin with CNN Law Enforcement Analyst Josh Campbell. He is in Istanbul. Josh, what are Turkish officials saying about that late, really late admission from the Saudis?</s>JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They issued a statement, according to media, essentially saying that the Turks continue their investigation, that evidence will be shared with the world whenever it's finished, whenever they're certain of what they have. We're still waiting to hear that. Obviously the ball is in their court to respond, to provide additional information. What is interesting here is that up to this point, we've been covering the story for some two weeks now and we've been referring to the journalist as missing or the disappeared journalist. According to the people who run the facility behind me, we're at the Saudi consulate here, the alleged scene of the crime, he's not missing. He's not disappeared. They are referring to him as deceased which obviously that's sad news for Khashoggi's family, for his colleagues but it does bring this to a new step in the investigation where there appears to be -- according to the people who saw him last -- no question that he is deceased. What does it mean for the investigation? We understand there's been some reporting from "The New York Times" indicating that his body was possibly handed over to a quote/unquote "collaborator." What happened after that we don't know? The body will be a key piece of evidence as we try to get to the bottom of weather the Saudi reports about his demise are actually true, whether there was some type of altercation, some type of struggle or whether it was more sinister. The last part I'll say as far as Turkish investigators is up to this point we've heard reporting about alleged audio recordings that took place inside the consulate behind me. Now we've been talking to intelligence officials here who have indicated that they are so far not releasing that audio. There's a question of whether, in fact, the actual act of bugging this facility behind me violates international law. Again, the because is in the Turkish court to either provide the evidence, to refute what the Saudis are saying. Absent that, it will be the he said, she said and it will come down to credibility. Again, a lot of questions now for the Turkish officials to answer, to lay out their cards and provide information on the investigation. We're told that's going to come in short order but obviously that's an important part the rest of the world is now watching.</s>BLACKWELL: Josh Campbell, thank you very much from Istanbul. Let's now go to Sam Kiley, CNN's Senior International Correspondent. Sam, some of those closest to the Saudi Crown Prince have been dismissed from their post, dismissed. Give us an idea of who they are.</s>SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Let's start with the top two, if you like, Victor. The first is Ahmed Allasiri, the Deputy of General Intelligence. He was the spokesman for the Saudi Coalition in the Yemen, caught the eye of the Crown Prince, very close to him indeed and indeed was promoted by him. He's been removed from his post. We had reporting to anticipate that already. This is something that was striking - Saud al-Qahtani who is the senior media advisor to the crown prince. He's the right-hand man in terms of managing the prince's international public profile. He's been dismissed alongside another three very senior intelligence officials all of whom though of course, their jobs depend in any case on their service to the crown prince here. He is the chief executive in this absolute monarchy; almost all of the power is concentrated in the crown prince's hands. But that statement that came out 1:00 in the morning last night by the Saudis which went 180 degrees from denying originally that was the position of the Saudis that Mr. Khashoggi had met with an untoward end in the consulate to admitting that he'd been killed by Saudis in what they are suggesting was an accidental death during a struggle, still does not point the fingers toward the ultimate power in the land which is the crown prince. Instead, Victor, he's actually now going to be presiding over a one- month study and investigation into not only what went wrong in Turkey but in a total reformation of the intelligence structures in this country. A cynic might say perhaps one of the top questions would not necessarily coming from the crown prince be whodunit to Mr. Khashoggi but actually how come it was possible for the Turks to bug their consulate, Victor.</s>BLACKWELL: Important question. Sam Kiley there for us in Riyadh. Sam, thanks.</s>SANTIAGO: All right so now let's turn to Sarah Westwood at the White House. SaraH, the president has been kind of slow to condemn the Saudis before now. So what is he saying now that they have admitted it, made the admission to playing a part in his death?</s>SARAH WESTWOOD, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, president Trump was quick to accept the Saudis' explanation last night, even as lawmakers in both parties are essentially rejecting the Saudis' latest explanation for what happened to this journalist, Jamal Khashoggi. Trump had previously highlighted denials from Saudi leaders that they knew anything about Khashoggi's fate and last night he said he believed the latest party line out of Saudi Arabia to be credible. Take a listen.</s>TRUMP: I do. I do. I mean, again, it's early. We haven't finished our review or investigation. I think it's a very important first step and happened sooner than people thought it would happen.</s>WESTWOOD: That was last night, the president speaking in Arizona. President Trump saying that he still wants the investigation to continue but keep in mind that the Saudis have changed their stories several times now. At first Saudi Arabia was insisting that Jamal Khashoggi had left the consulate unharmed then Saudi leaders told the president and the president repeated to the press the denial that they knew anything of what happened to Khashoggi in the consulate. Now that the Saudis are acknowledging Khashoggi died inside the consulate, there's a lot of skepticism on Capitol Hill among Republicans and Democrats alike that the Saudis are telling the truth. For example, Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, saying the Saudis are simply trying to buy time. Even Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who is a close ally of President Trump's, saying that he's deeply skeptical of what the Saudis are saying, as well so President Trump likely to come under an enormous amount of pressure not to take the Saudis at their word and to impose the severe punishments he once threatened against Saudi Arabia if it turns out Khashoggi was murdered in the consulate, Leyla and Victor.</s>SANTIAGO: Lots of skepticism. Sarah Westwood, thank you very much.</s>BLACKWELL: All right, let's bring in CNN Political Commentator and Political Anchor for "Spectrum News," Errol Louis, and CNN Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson. Gentlemen, good morning. Nic, let me start with you. President Trump's acceptance here of this explanation from the Saudis as credible. According to officials who have spoken with CNN puts him at odds with the U.S. intelligence community. What is the world saying about the Saudi statement, and does it put him at odds with the global community, as well?</s>NIC ROBERTSON, CNN DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: You know, the British right now are saying that they need to investigate further and examine this. You know, they're taking the Saudi statement and are going to look at it. that's their point. I think the key voice we haven't heard from so far is President Erdogan. Of course, here in Turkey his investigators have maintained that a far more sinister series of events happened inside the consulate. We have yet to hear him rebut or rebuff what we've heard from the Saudis. I think his view is going to be very key. Look, part of the Saudi statement said there was a cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Turkish investigators that on the 6th of October, that's four days after Khashoggi disappeared, Saudis sent its investigators to Turkey and part of this apparent coordinated working together investigation. We know it was a further nine days after that, nine days after that Saudi investigative team arrived, almost two weeks to the day after Jamal Khashoggi actually disappeared, the Saudi authorities actually let Turkish officials into the consulate and when they got in, they discovered that much of it had been painted over. So what President Erdogen has to say about this apparent cooperation that so far publically is hinted does exist with the Saudis doesn't bear scrutiny. He did criticize overnight that the consul general here had allowed journalists into the consulate a couple of days after Khashoggi disappeared, but not the investigators. We still don't know which direction he's headed in. Look, there clearly are many, many holes in what the Saudis are saying; that point on cooperation, not the least of it. President Trump said the statement from the Saudis has come much quicker than most people expected it would. I don't think that's how the Turkish authorities would characterize it but what position are they going to take? There's a lot of skepticism out there and people are holding their opinions at the moment.</s>BLACKWELL: So Errol, let me come to you here. Several congressional Republicans, the Chair of Senate Foreign Relations, Bob Corker, you've got Lindsey Graham as Sarah Westwood mentioned a moment ago saying that they are skeptical of this statement. Senator Corker saying it does not hold water. The Saudis want 30 days to investigate. The legitimacy led by MBS aside, does Congress wait 30 days?</s>ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Oh, no. absolutely. They do not have 30 days because we have a midterm election coming up in something, like, what, 26, 27 days from now.</s>BLACKWELL: Seventeen.</s>LOUIS: Seventeen. Well, there you go. There's no way Congress or the many -- hundreds, frankly, of candidates who are running for various offices are going to sit on their hands and wait for a nonexistent investigation to play out. So I think we're going to see those who are auditioning for a possible run for president really speaking out against the bankruptcy of this particular policy. I think we'll have other candidates that are opposed to the administration making the argument that, look, the United States has not -- this administration has not even nominated an ambassador to this country, to the extent that people want to find fault with the human rights policy such as it says with the administration, with its failure to fill critical positions, with its questions that are lurking in the background of possible financial ties between the Trump family and the Saudis -- all of these things are going to come up. They're not going to wait 30 days for a bogus investigation.</s>BLACKWELL: Errol, let me stay with you and there's a growing whisper campaign about Jamal Khashoggi. I want you to listen first to Virginia Republican Senate candidate Corey Stewart and then to "Fox News" anchor this week. Watch.</s>COREY STEWART, (R) VIRGINIA SENATE CANDIDATE: One thing we have to understand is Khashoggi was not a good guy himself.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now some things have come out, and we're reporting the facts. Lisa, we don't have to fall down one way or the other on this. But Khashoggi was tied to the Muslim brotherhood.</s>BLACKWELL: Harris Walker(ph) then said seconds later, I just put that out there because it's in the constellation of things that are being talked about and then doubled down later saying that, you know, she was asking the tough questions and that's her job there at "Fox". Is the strategy to make his life less valuable so the response from the president isn't as important? What do you see here with that?</s>LOUIS: Well that's right. First of all, any journalist who carries that particular bucket of tainted water should be ashamed of themselves. There have been 44 journalists killed worldwide this year, of which Mr. Khashoggi was one. For anybody to sort of play these cover-up games is -- is really disgraceful and an embarrassment to our profession. But having said that, look, from the very first moment we heard the president kind of throwing out these little talking points saying he wasn't really a citizen. He was a resident of the United States. They're going to try and find any possible way to insulate this administration or try to make the world's attention sort of point somewhere else. It's transparent -- a transparent strategy, and it is a very dishonorable one, I have to say. I mean, look, this is a guy who did what all of us do in this business which is put ourselves out there, try and find the truth, express for those of us on the opinion side, express the truth as you see it, and see if you can shed light on things. What was Mr. Khashoggi even writing about? What he was writing about was the future of the Muslim world, the future of democracy and human rights worldwide and especially in that part of the world, to lose your life over that, is not something any journalist should take as one more talking point and an excuse to try and defend it.</s>BLACKWELL: Yes, Nic, let me come back down to you and the big question here even after the statements from the Saudis, what about Mr. Khashoggi's remains? Any mention of them and the effort to get an answer to that question?</s>ROBERTSON: You know what we are witnessing here, as much as over the past 2.5 weeks, drip, drip feed of information from Turkish officials, is a very, very carefully-positioned platform of messaging coming from the Saudi royals. There have been few surprises in what they said, particularly about the people who were removed from office, talking here about the deputy head of intelligence, the top media aide, also really a very much an enforcer for Mohammed bin Salman himself. Some of this has been foreshadowed by leaking to journalists. No mention in the official Saudi statement whatsoever about what happened to Jamal Khashoggi's body. Indeed, the inference being almost in the Saudi narrative is that it's his fault he got into a fight with more than a dozen guys. So to the point of the body, "The New York Times" is reporting from their sources that the body may have been passed to some kind of associate here in Turkey who was then charged with disposing of the body. It remains a mystery. It remains a deeply difficult point for his family. That's despite what we've heard from the -- in the Saudi statement that they expressed their condolences and deep sorrow for what happened. More clarity for the family at the least on what happened to Jamal Khashoggi's body would be important. I think what we're seeing here is a very, very thin cover being put forward by the Saudis, leaving journalists to try to piece it together and piece together a fuller narrative. They're not saying it. And again, leaks that hint of something when for 17 days now it would seem to beg some kind of belief that the Saudis could not offer a little more detail for his family on that body, that does beg of somewhat belief at this time.</s>BLACKWELL: Yes, it is as you called it a thin cover. It's one that the president says that he finds credible. Nic Robertson for us there in Istanbul. Errol Louis, thank you, as well.</s>LOUIS: Thank you.</s>SANTIAGO: Well, these pictures say it all. Take a look at this. Just a sea of people walking together toward the U.S. border in hope of a better life but the question remains, will they even make it that far.</s>BLACKWELL: Plus, the Feds charge a Russian woman with election meddling, accusing her of trying to manipulate and divide voters ahead of the election, just 17 days away.</s>SANTIAGO: Also, it's where they made their debut as a couple just a year ago. Now, Harry and Meghan stepping out again at the international games he founded, by the way, this time as husband, wife, and, oh, yeah, parents-to-be.