Turkey’s Leaks Are Undermining the Khashoggi Investigation
Only Erdogan can stop the confusing drip of information and misinformation. Here’s why he should.
Just say no.
Photographer: Adem Altan/AFP/Getty ImagesIt was a news cycle within a news cycle. On Thursday, a Turkish official told ABC News that U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, on his recent visit to Istanbul, heard a recording of the Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi being murdered in the Saudi consulate. The State Department denied the report. Pompeo, asked about it during a trip to Mexico City, was emphatic: “I’ve heard no tape. I’ve seen no transcript.” On Friday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said his government has not shared any recordings with U.S. officials.
The incident was typical of how information, mixed bewilderingly with misinformation, has emerged, drip by lurid drip, since Khashoggi, the Washington Post columnist, disappeared in the consulate three weeks ago. Follow the trail of reporting on any detail about what happened after Khashoggi entered the premises and you’ll find an unnamed Turkish official briefing reporters on the latest details allegedly uncovered by investigators working on the case. On the rare occasion when an official speaks on the record, it is usually to deny or muddle something revealed off the record by another official.