A former CIA officer says the White House is helping cover up Jamal Khashoggi's murder

Jim WATSON / AFP

A demonstrator dressed as Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (C) with blood on his hands protests with others outside the Saudi Embassy in Washington, DC, on October 8, 2018,

• A former CIA case officer and intelligence analyst said the Trump administration is helping the Saudi Crown Prince cover up journalist Jamal Khashoggi's murder.

• Bob Baer, who worked as a CIA case officer primarily in the Middle East, told CNN's Jake Tapper that the US has purposely muted its response to Khashoggi's murder, despite mounting evidence - including audio recordings - that some suggest implicates the Saudi Crown Prince.
• Turkish and US officials, including US National Security Adviser John Bolton, have said that the audio does not conclusively link the killing to Prince Mohammed. But Baer suggested it is unlikely that anyone else in the Kingdom would have the authority to order such an operation.
• "The chances that Mohammed bin Salman ordered this, we're hitting 100%," Baer said.
• The Trump administration, by all appearances, is unsure of how to proceed in its response to Khashoggi's murder; while officials have been promising to clamp down hard with possible sanctions, little meaningful action has been taken.

A former CIA case officer and intelligence analyst for CNN claimed the Trump administration is helping the Saudis cover up Jamal Khashoggi's murder.

Speaking to CNN's Jake Tapper on Tuesday, Bob Baer, who worked at a CIA case officer primarily in the Middle East, said the US has purposely muted its response to journalist Jamal Khashoggi's murder.

"We've always turned a blind eye to what's going on in Saudi Arabia," he told CNN Tuesday.

Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor and US resident, was murdered after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2. Saudi Arabia has repeatedly shifted its version of the events that transpired that day, and it has fired five top officials and arrested 18 Saudis it says are connected to the killing.

Still, Khashoggi's body has not been returned, and audio recordings circulating around government agencies appear to indicate that that someone senior, possibly Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, had ordered the killing.

According to The New York Times, the tape allegedly records Khashoggi's last moments, and catches one of his killers call his superior on the phone and tell the person to "tell your boss" that "the deed was done."

"The way Saudi Arabia is run today, Mohammed bin Salman is an autocrat," Baer said. "Security services, the rest of the country, he's in control."

While Turkish and US officials, including US National Security Adviser John Bolton, have said that the audio does not conclusively implicate Prince Mohammed, Baer suggested it is unlikely that anyone else in the Kingdom would have the authority to order such an operation. Bolton has said he has not heard the tape himself.

"The Saudis do not have rogue operations ever," Baer said. "It's never occured. The chances that Mohammed bin Salman ordered this, we're hitting 100%."

Deep ties between Washington and Riyadh

Kevin Dietsch-Pool/Getty Images

President Donald Trump (R) holds up a chart of military hardware sales as he meets with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the Oval Office at the White House on March 20, 2018 in Washington, D.C.

The Trump administration, by all appearances, is unsure of how to proceed in its response to Khashoggi's murder; while officials have been promising to clamp down hard with possible sanctions against senior Saudi leaders, little action has been taken, likely due to the deep economic ties between Washington and Riyadh.

"At this point, the White House doesn't see a way out. Saudi Arabia is a volcano and to try and push the Crown Prince out, we don't have any players [in Saudi Arabia] on our side, so we don't know what to do," Baer said. "So we have a psychopath sitting in Riyadh controlling the country."

Prince Mohammed has tightened his grip in the last year since being appointed Crown Prince last June at the age of 31. His massive purge of more than 200 influential Saudi figures, many of whom were members of the Saudi royal family, silenced dissenting voices and cemented his status as Saudi Arabia's most powerful figure.

"No Saudi prince has ever done this ever in its history," Baer said. "I think what worries the White House is this country could pop, and what would we do then?"