Unnamed Officials Say Saudi Journalist Jamal Khashoggi has Been Killed at Saudi Consulate in Turkey; Turkey Asks to Search Saudi Consulate After Journalist's Disappearance
SCIUTTO: This morning, there are growing calls, urgent calls for the U.S. government to speak out about the disappearance and suspected murder of a "Washington Post" writer. Jamal Khashoggi; a Saudi journalist, outspoken critic of the Saudi government entered the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Istanbul last week to get a papers for his upcoming marriage. But his fiancee who was waiting outside, says if you could believe it, he never came out.</s>HARLOW: Unnamed Turkish officials this morning say they believe that Khashoggi was killed inside of the consulate there, and now Turkey is asking Saudi for permission to search the entire building. So far, nothing. No comment from the president or from the White House. Although Cnn has learned that State Department right now is working to try to figure out what happened, actually quietly doing that behind the scenes. Joining us now is our journalist Jomana Karadsheh who joins us from Istanbul with the latest. So, the last time he was seen publicly was Tuesday. And now Erdogan's government wants to get inside of the Saudi Consulate there to investigate what they believe is the murder of a Saudi national and permanent U.S. resident inside. What else can you tell us?</s>JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Poppy, over the past few days, we have been getting conflicting information from Turkish officials. You know, their official line has been that Jamal Khashoggi walked into that consulate on Tuesday at about 1:00 p.m., and he never left after that. You know, I spoke to the fiancee of Khashoggi who was out here in the days after that, still hoping that he would emerge from that building. And she was saying that he was really worried, he was reluctant about going into that building because of the crackdown that was going on in Saudi Arabia. He didn't feel safe, but he had no choice. He needed to obtain the paperwork that would allow him to get married, so he did do that and go into the consulate. And as you mentioned, you know, Turkey has maintained their line that, you know, they are investigating this incident, but over the past couple of days, we've heard these reports, allegations from some Turkish officials saying that he may have been killed inside the consulate. They haven't provided evidence to support that or explain how they reached that conclusion. And this is something that has been denied by Saudi officials, saying these are baseless allegations. People here are telling us, the United States needs to be doing more. END