The US reportedly gave Mohammed bin Salman 72 hours to 'own' the Khashoggi disaster. His time is up.
- Mike Pompeo reportedly gave Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman 72 hours to explain what happened to journalist Jamal Khashoggi on Tuesday.
- That time is now up — and the Saudis haven't said anything further about his mysterious disappearance.
- The meeting was at around 3 p.m. local time in Riyadh on Tuesday, meaning the deadline hit at 8 a.m New York time on Friday.
- Khashoggi was a US resident and often criticized the Saudi regime in his Washington Post columns.
- He went into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul earlier this month, and never came out. The Saudis are suspected of foul play.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reportedly gave Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman 72 hours to "own" the Jamal Khashoggi disaster, and as of 8 a.m. EDT on Friday his time is up.
In the meeting in Riyadh on Tuesday — which finished at around 3 p.m. Saudi time — Pompeo told the Crown Prince he must "own" the disaster and has 72 hours to sort it out, an Axios source said.
The deadline has just passed, and the Saudi regime has yet to come forward with new information or an explanation that holds water.
At the meeting, Pompeo told the Crown Prince that time was "limited" because of rising global pressure to solve the mystery, the Axios report says.
The meeting lasted between 30-45 minutes and the pair dined together that evening too, CNN reported.
A US State Department press release from Pompeo on Tuesday said President Donald Trump told him it was "essential to determine what happened to Jamal Khashoggi," and Pompeo wrote in the press release that he "had done just that."
Pompeo wrote: "I emphasized the importance of conducting a thorough, transparent, and timely investigation, and the Saudi leadership pledged to deliver precisely on that."
The exact start time of the meeting was not revealed by the US State Department or Saudi authorities, but live reports from journalists in Riyadh, and press photographs from news agency Reuters, place the meeting's end at around 3 p.m. local time.
The Daily Beast on Tuesday reported that Saudi officials plan to pin Khashoggi's death on an unnamed Saudi two-star general, citing two anonymous sources familiar with the matter.
READ MORE:
- Here's everything we know about the troubling disappearance of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi
- Trump is placing his trust in someone who is either lying or can't stop his henchmen from brutally killing journalists
- Top Senate Democrat slams Trump's response to Khashoggi killing, says president is making US look 'weaker' than ever by kowtowing to Saudis
- Jamal Khashoggi's disappearance is an 'embarrassing' 'crisis' for Trump and 'one of the roughest foreign-policy challenges' he's faced yet, experts say
- Missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi had a complicated past involving interviews with Osama bin Laden and close ties to the Saudi royal family
- Lindsey Graham says 'toxic' Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had Khashoggi 'murdered' and can 'never be a world leader'
- Trump touts Saudi king's 'very strong' denial and says 'rogue killers' could be responsible for Khashoggi disappearance
- Trump officials dodge questions on US support for Saudi Arabia amid Khashoggi crisis
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