The latest row between US President Donald Trump and the CIA over the Jamal Khashoggi case is yet another round in Washington's power struggle.
Image: imago/IP3press/A. Morissard
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The decision by US President Donald Trump to shield Saudi Arabia in the case of the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, despite the assessment from the CIA that Khashoggi's death was ordered directly by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, shows the scope of the ongoing power games in the current US administration.
"We are talking about two different warring parts of America," said David Hearst, editor-in-chief of the Middle East Eye, a UK-based online news outlet.
"As we all know, this is not the first time such an open information war has been declared between the CIA and the Trump administration," Hearst said, referring to the Russia investigation into Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and the president's attacks on former CIA Director John Brennan.
After Trump's much criticized statement this week that effectively shielded the Saudis from any repercussions from the US in relation to the murder, Trump has continued his attacks on the intelligence agency.
On Thursday, the president rebuffed the CIA over its claims regarding the crown prince, saying the CIA "did not come to a conclusion. They have feelings certain ways… I don't know if anyone's going to be able to conclude the crown prince did it."
It's likely the CIA will make another move in the coming days or weeks. Turkish media has reported that the agency's director, Gina Haspel, suggested to Turkish officials last month that she had a recording in which the crown prince gave instructions to silence Khashoggi.
According to Hall Gardner, professor at the American University of Paris and author of World War Trump, there have always been divisions between the National Security Council, the CIA and the State Department under various US administrations.
"While these divisions were recurrent in every administration, what appears unprecedented is Trump's own policy statement on the Khashoggi affair, written in blunt, undiplomatic language," Gardner told DW, adding that the reason for the policy divide between the US institutions and the Trump administration is Trump himself.
In the White House statement — which echoed Trump's media statements and tweets — the president argued at length for Washington's choice to stand with Saudi Arabia. He reiterated that Riyadh's multibillion-dollar investments in the US are of utmost importance for US national security and job creation.
On the Khashoggi affair, the statement said, "Intelligence agencies continue to assess all information, but it could very well be that the crown prince had knowledge of this tragic event — maybe he did and maybe he didn't!"
The Committee to Protect Journalists called the statement "an appalling message to send to Saudi Arabia and the world," while Fred Ryan, CEO of The Washington Post, the newspaper that published Khashoggi's columns, accused Trump of betraying "long-established American values of respect for human rights."
For Gardner, Trump's decision to side with Saudi Arabia allows Riyadh to believe it can act with impunity, which could lead to dangerous implications for the entire Middle East.
Jamal Khashoggi: A mysterious disappearance and death
Official Saudi statements on the fate of journalist Jamal Khashoggi have changed several times since he disappeared at the Istanbul consulate on October 2. DW traces the most important events in this intricate case.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Martin
Vanishes into thin air
October 2: Prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, where he had gone to obtain an official document for his upcoming marriage to his Turkish fiancee, Hatice Cengiz. He never emerged from the building, prompting Cengiz, who waited outside, to raise the alarm.
Image: Reuters TV
Confusion over whereabouts
October 3: Turkish and Saudi officials came up with conflicting reports on Khashoggi's whereabouts. Riyadh said the journalist had left the mission shortly after his work was done. But Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said the journalist was still in the consulate.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/V. Mayo
Murder claims
October 6: Turkish officials said they believed the journalist was likely killed inside the Saudi consulate. The Washington Post, for which Khashoggi wrote, cited unnamed sources to report that Turkish investigators believe a 15-member team "came from Saudi Arabia" to kill the man.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/H. Jamali
Ankara seeks proof
October 8: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Saudi Arabia to prove that Khashoggi left its consulate in Istanbul. Turkey also sought permission to search the mission premises. US President Donald Trump voiced concern about the journalist's disappearance.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/T. Kovacs
'Davos in the Desert' hit
October 12: British billionaire Richard Branson halted talks over a $1 billion Saudi investment in his Virgin group's space ventures, citing Khashoggi's case. He also pulled out of an investment conference in Riyadh dubbed the "Davos in the Desert." His move was followed by Uber's Dara Khosrowshahi, JP Morgan's Jamie Dimon and a host of other business leaders.
Image: picture alliance/dpa
Search operation
October 15: Turkish investigators searched the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The search lasted more than eight hours and investigators removed samples from the building, including soil from the consulate garden and a metal door, one official said.
Image: Reuters/M. Sezer
Death after fistfight
October 19: Saudi Arabia finally admitted that Khashoggi died at the consulate. The kingdom's public prosecutor said preliminary investigations showed the journalist was killed in a "fistfight." He added that 18 people had been detained. A Saudi Foreign Ministry official said the country is "investigating the regrettable and painful incident."
Image: Getty Images/C. McGrath
'Grave mistake'
October 21: Saudi Arabia provided yet another account of what happened to Khashoggi. The kingdom's foreign minister admitted the journalist was killed in a "rogue operation," calling it a "huge and grave mistake," but insisted that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had not been aware of the murder. Riyadh said it had no idea where Khashoggi's body was.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/C. Owen
Germany halts arms sales
October 21: German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany would put arms exports to Saudi Arabia on hold for the time being, given the unexplained circumstances of Khashoggi's death. Germany is the fourth largest exporter of weapons to Saudi Arabia after the United States, Britain and France.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Sauer
Strangled to death, dissolved in acid
October 31: The Turkish prosecutor concluded that Khashoggi was strangled to death soon after entering the consulate, and was then dismembered. Another Turkish official later claimed the body was dissolved in acid. Turkish President Erdogan said the order to murder the journalist came from "the highest levels" of Saudi Arabia's government.
Image: picture-alliance/AA/M. E. Yildirim
Grilled at the UN
November 5: Saudi Arabia told the United Nations it would prosecute those responsible for Khashoggi's murder. This came as the United States and dozens of other countries raised the journalist's death before the UN Human Rights Council and called for a transparent investigation.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/F. Coffrini
Fiancee in mourning
November 8: Khashoggi's fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, wrote on Twitter that she was "unable to express her sorrow" upon learning that the journalist's body was dissolved with chemicals. "Are these killers and those behind it human beings?" she tweeted.
Image: Reuters/Haberturk
Turkey shares audio recordings
November 10: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reveals that officials from Saudi Arabia, the US, Germany, France and Britain have listened to audio recordings related to the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/Presidential Press Service
Symbolic funeral prayers
November 16: A symbolic funeral prayer for Khashoggi is held in the courtyard of the Fatih Mosque in Istanbul. Yasin Aktay, advisor to President Erdogan, speaks at the service.
Image: Reuters/M. Sezer
Saudi-owned villas searched
November 26: Turkish forensic police bring the investigation to the Turkish province of Yalova, where sniffer dogs and drones search two Saudi-owned villas in the village Samanli.
Image: Reuters/O . Orsal
100 days since killing
January 10: Amnesty International Turkey members demonstrate outside the Saudi Arabia Consulate in Istanbul, marking 100 day since the killing of Jamal Khashoggi. One woman holds up a street sign which reads "Jamal Khashoggi Street". The organization has called for an international investigation into the case.
Image: Reuters/M. Sezer
Saudi murder trial begins
January 3: The Khashoggi trial begins in Saudi Arabia, where state prosecutors say they will seek the death sentence for five of the eleven suspects. A request for the gathered evidence has been send to Turkish authorities. A date for the second hearing has not yet been set.
Image: picture-alliance/abaca/Depo Photos
UN inquiry team in Turkey
January 28: Agnes Callamard, who is leading the UN probe into the handling of the Khashoggi case, arrives in Ankara where she meets with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. The human rights expect will stay in the country for the rest of the week to speak with prosecutors and others involved in the case.
Hearst believes this week's White House statement backing the Saudis will not be the end of the Khashoggi affair in Washington.
"What's going to happen now is that the CIA is going to get its evidence on the public record, either through the press or most likely through hearings by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee or the House of Representatives Foreign Relations Committee, which is now Democrat-controlled," Hearst said.
On Friday, Democratic Representative Adam Schiff, the incoming head of the House intelligence panel, told The Washington Post that the panel will investigate Trump's response to Khashoggi's murder as part of a "deep dive" into US-Saudi ties next year.
Hearst believes more information will be unveiled regarding the Khashoggi murder, forcing the Saudis — and Trump — to change their stories once again.
