Four of Jamal Khashoggi’s Saudi killers received paramilitary training in the US that was approved by the State Department a year before his murder
- Tier 1 Group, a security company based in Arkansas owned by private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, started to provide the training in 2014
- Louis Bremer, a senior executive of Cerberus, provided The New York Times with a document containing his answers to questions from lawmakers last year
- In the document, Bremer confirmed Tier 1 Group trained four members of the Khashoggi kill team in 2017
- He also confirmed that two of them had previously been trained from October 2014 until January 2015 during the Obama administration
- The training was developed to teach how to better protect leaders in Saudi Arabia like Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
- Known as MBS, the prince is believed to have ordered the attack on Khashoggi
- It remains unclear which four of the Saudi operatives involved in Khashoggi’s death participated in the Tier 1 Group training
- Bremer said in the document: ‘The training provided was unrelated to their subsequent heinous acts’
Four of the Saudi Arabian operatives who killed journalist Jamal Khashoggi had received paramilitary training in the United States approved by the State Department a year before his murder, it has been reported.
Tier 1 Group, a security company based in Arkansas that is owned by private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, started to provide the training in 2014 during the Obama administration to members of the Saudi Royal Guard and the Saudi Rapid Intervention Group, The New York Times reported.
Louis Bremer, a senior executive of Cerberus, provided The New York Times with a document containing his written answers to questions from lawmakers last year as part of his nomination for a top job in the Pentagon during the Trump administration.
In the document, Bremer confirmed Tier 1 Group trained four members of the Khashoggi kill team in 2017 and that two of them had previously been trained from October 2014 until January 2015 during the Obama administration.
Four of the Saudi Arabian operatives who killed journalist Jamal Khashoggi, pictured, had received paramilitary training in the United States approved by the State Department
The training was developed to teach how to better protect leaders in Saudi Arabia like Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, pictured, who is believed to have ordered the attack on Khashoggi
The Tier 1 Group training began under the administration of President Barack Obama
It continued into the administration of President Donald Trump, pictured left with MBS
It remains unclear which four of the Saudi operatives involved in Khashoggi’s death participated in the Tier 1 Group training.
Seven members of the Khashoggi kill team belonged to an elite unit tasked with protecting Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – who is believed to have ordered the attack on Khashoggi, according to a recently declassified intelligence report.
Bremer said in the document: ‘The training provided was unrelated to their subsequent heinous acts.’
He said that Tier 1 Group had conducted a review of its training in March 2019 after the death of Khashoggi which found ‘no wrongdoing’ and ‘confirmed’ that the curriculum was unrelated to Kashoggi’s murder.
The training was developed to teach how to better protect leaders in Saudi Arabia and included lessons in surveillance and close-quarters battle as well as ‘safe marksmanship’ and ‘countering an attack,’ sources who spoke with The New York Times said.
Bremer said in an additional statement to The New York Times that the training provided by Tier 1 Group was ‘protective in nature’ and that the company did not train Saudis after December 2017.
‘T1G management, the board and I stand firmly with the U.S. government, the American people and the international community in condemning the horrific murder of Jamal Khashoggi,’ he said.
A Tier 1 Group instructors simulate a close quarter combat attack in a large shoot house at their private military training facility in Crittenden County, Arkansas in 2011
Arkansas based company Tier 1 Group provided training to four Saudis who participated in the 2018 killing of the Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi
The training was developed to teach how to better protect leaders in Saudi Arabia and included lessons in surveillance and close-quarters battle
The lessons also reportedly taught safe marksmanship’ and ‘countering an attack,’ sources who spoke with The New York Times said
Bremer said the State Department and federal agencies vet the foreign forces and clear them for entry into the United States before they are trained by Tier 1 Group, according to the outlet.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Bremer for more information and additional comment.
As noted by The New York Times, the kill team members received the training just as Saudi Arabia began kidnapping, detaining and torturing its citizens under the orders of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – known as MBS.
Federal laws require security companies like Tier 1 Group to apply for licenses to train foreign soldiers which are first examined by State Department officials. The members of the Saudi Royal Guard would then have had visas processed b y the American Embassy in Riyadh before they could enter the United States.
CCTV footage allegedly shows Jamal Khashoggi’s body parts being carried into Saudi Arabia’s consul residence in bags and suitcases on the day he was murdered
A still image taken from CCTV video claims to show Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, highlighted in a red circle by the source, as he arrives at Saudi Arabia’s Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey before his death
However, there is no evidence that either U.S. officials who approved the training or executives with Tier 1 Group knew that the four Saudi operatives were involved in working to eradicate dissent inside Saudi Arabia.
The fact that those involved with the Khashoggi murder had been trained in the United States was first revealed in a 2019 column by David Ignatius of The Washington Post.
Ignatius wrote at the time that the CIA had ‘cautioned other government agencies’ that some special-operations training may have been conducted by Tier 1 Group.
The murder of Jamal Khashoggi: Key moments surrounding the writer’s disappearance and death
Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who wrote critically of the kingdom’s policies and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. Turkish officials say a 15-men team tortured, killed and dismembered the writer, while Saudi Arabia says he died in a ‘fistfight.’
Here are some key moments in the slaying of the Washington Post columnist:
BEFORE HIS DISAPPEARANCE
September 2017: The Post publishes the first column by Khashoggi in its newspaper, in which the former royal court insider and longtime journalist writes about going into a self-imposed exile in the U.S. over the rise of Prince Mohammed. His following columns criticize the prince and the kingdom’s direction.
September 28, 2018: Over a year after the Post published his first column, Khashoggi visits the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, seeking documents in order to get married. He’s later told to return October 2, his fiancee Hatice Cengiz says. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says a plan or a ‘road map’ to kill Khashoggi was devised in Saudi Arabia during this time.
September 29: Khashoggi travels to London and speaks at a conference.
October 1: Khashoggi returns to Istanbul. At around 4.30pm, a three-person Saudi team arrives in Istanbul on a scheduled flight, checks in to their hotels then visits the consulate, according to Erdogan. The Turkish president says another group of officials from the consulate travel to a forest in Istanbul’s outskirts and to the nearby city of Yalova on a ‘reconnaissance’ trip.
Jamal Khashoggi (right) arriving at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul on October 2
THE DAY OF HIS DISAPPEARANCE
3.28am, October 2: A private jet arrives at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport carrying some members of what Turkish media will refer to as a 15-member Saudi ‘assassination squad.’ Other members of the team arrive by two commercial flights in the afternoon. Erdogan says the team includes Saudi security and intelligence officials and a forensics expert. They meet at the Saudi Consulate. One of the first things they do is to dismantle a hard disk connected to the consulate’s camera system, the president says.
11.50am: Khashoggi is called to confirm his appointment at the consulate later that day, Erdogan says.
1.14pm: Surveillance footage later leaked to Turkish media shows Khashoggi walking into the main entrance of the Saudi Consulate. No footage made public ever shows him leaving. His fiancee waits outside, pacing for hours.
3.07pm: Surveillance footage shows vehicles with diplomatic license plates leaving the Saudi Consulate for the consul general’s home some 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) away.
5.50pm: Khashoggi’s fiancee alerts authorities, saying he may have been forcibly detained inside the consulate or that something bad may have happened to him, according to Erdogan.
7pm: A private plane from Saudi Arabia carries six members of the alleged Saudi squad from Istanbul to Cairo, the next day returning to Riyadh.
11pm: Seven members of the alleged Saudi squad leave on another private jet to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, which the next day returns to Riyadh. Two others leave by commercial flights.
Erdogan confirms reports that a ‘body double’ – a man wearing Khashoggi’s clothes, glasses and a beard – leaves the consulate building for Riyadh with another person on a scheduled flight later that day.
CCTV images showed a a private jet alleged to have been used by a group of Saudi men suspected of being involved in Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s death
INITIAL REACTION
October 3: Khashoggi’s fiancee and the Post go public with his disappearance. Saudi Arabia says Khashoggi visited the consulate and exited shortly thereafter. Turkish officials suggest Khashoggi might still be in the consulate. Prince Mohammed tells Bloomberg: ‘We have nothing to hide.’
October 4: Saudi Arabia says on its state-run news agency that the consulate is carrying out ‘follow-up procedures and coordination with the Turkish local authorities to uncover the circumstances of the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi after he left the consulate building.’
October 5: The Post prints a blank column in its newspaper in solidarity with Khashoggi, headlined: ‘A missing voice.’
October 6: The Post, citing anonymous Turkish officials, reports Khashoggi may have been killed in the consulate in a ‘preplanned murder’ by a Saudi team.
October 7: A friend of Khashoggi tells the AP that officials told him the writer was killed at the consulate. The consulate rejects what it calls ‘baseless allegations.’
October 8: Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Turkey is summoned over Khashoggi’s disappearance and alleged killing.
LEAKED FOOTAGE
October 9: Turkey says it will search the Saudi Consulate as a picture of Khashoggi walking into the diplomatic post surfaces.
October 10: Surveillance footage is leaked of Khashoggi and the alleged Saudi squad that killed him. Khashoggi’s fiancee asks President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump for help.
October 11: Turkish media describes Saudi squad as including royal guards, intelligence officers, soldiers and an autopsy expert. Trump calls Khashoggi’s disappearance a ‘bad situation’ and promises to get to the bottom of it.
October 12: Trump again pledges to find out what happened to Khashoggi.
October 13: A pro-government newspaper reports that Turkish officials have an audio recording of Khashoggi’s alleged killing from his Apple Watch, but details in the report come into question.
INTERNATIONAL UPROAR
October 14: Trump says that ‘we’re going to get to the bottom of it, and there will be severe punishment’ if Saudi Arabia is involved. The kingdom responds with a blistering attack against those who threaten it, as the manager of a Saudi-owned satellite news channel suggests the country could retaliate through its oil exports. The Saudi stock exchange plunges as much as 7 percent at one point.
Khashoggi (pictured), went missing after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul
October 15: A Turkish forensics team enters and searches the Saudi Consulate, an extraordinary development as such diplomatic posts are considered sovereign soil. Trump suggests after a call with Saudi King Salman that ‘rogue killers’ could be responsible for Khashoggi’s alleged slaying. Trump says Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will travel to the Mideast over the case. Meanwhile, business leaders say they won’t attend an economic summit in the kingdom that’s the brainchild of Prince Mohammed.
October 16: A high-level Turkish official tells the AP that ‘certain evidence’ was found in the Saudi Consulate proving Khashoggi was killed there. Pompeo arrives for meetings in Saudi Arabia with King Salman and Prince Mohammed. Meanwhile, Trump compares the case to the appointment of now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing, saying: ‘Here we go again with you’re guilty until proven innocent.’
October 17: Pompeo meets with Turkey’s president and foreign minister in the Turkish capital, Ankara. Turkish police search the official residence of Saudi Arabia’s consul general in Istanbul and conduct a second sweep of the consulate.
October 18: A leaked surveillance photograph shows a member of Prince Mohammed’s entourage walked into the consulate just before Khashoggi vanished there.
October 20: Saudi Arabia for the first time acknowledges Khashoggi was killed in the consulate, claiming he was slain in a ‘fistfight.’ The claim draws immediate skepticism from the kingdom’s Western allies, particularly in the U.S. Congress.
October 22: A report says a member of Prince Mohammed’s entourage made four calls to the royal’s office around the time Khashoggi was killed. Police search a vehicle belonging to the Saudi consulate parked at an underground garage in Istanbul.
CCTV emerges showing a Saudi intelligence officer dressed in a fake beard and Jamal Khashoggi’s clothes and glasses on the day he went missing.
October 23: Erdogan says Saudi officials murdered Khashoggi after plotting his death for days, demanding that Saudi Arabia reveal the identities of all involved.
October 25: Changing their story again, Saudi prosecutors say Khashoggi’s killing was a premeditated crime.
November 2: Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claims the order to kill Khashoggi came from the highest levels of the Saudi government. Earlier the same day, Yasin Aktay, a ruling party adviser to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said he believed the body had to have been dissolved in acid.
November 4: Khashoggi’s sons Salah and Abdullah Khashoggi issue appeal for his remains to be returned so that he may be buried in Saudi Arabia.
November 10: President Erdogan says Turkey gave the audio recordings linked to the murder to ‘Saudi Arabia, to Washington, to the Germans, to the French, to the British’.
November 13: Turkish media reports that the luggage carried by the Saudi ‘hit squad’ included scissors, defibrillators and syringes that may have been used against Khashoggi.
November 15: Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor announces that he is seeking the death penalty for five out of 11 suspects charged in the murder. Shalaan al-Shalaan said the person who had ordered the killing was the head of the negotiating team sent to repatriate him, and exonerated Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. On the same day, the U.S. Treasury announces sanctions against 17 Saudi officials, including the Consul General in Turkey, Mohammed Alotaibi.
November 16: A CIA assessment reported in the Washington Post finds that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the assassination.
November 18: Germany bans 18 Saudi nationals believed to be connected to the murder from entering Europe’s border-free Schengen zone. Berlin also announces it has as halted previously approved arms exports to Saudi Arabia amid the fallout.
Source: Read Full Article
