DAMAGE CONTROL

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Says Khashoggi’s Murder ‘Happened Under My Watch’

It’s the first time he’s spoken publicly about the Saudi WaPo writer’s murder, which many Western governments have accused him of ordering.

It’s taken almost a year, but Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has finally broken his silence on the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul last October. The CIA and some Western governments have accused the crown prince of ordering Khashoggi’s murder at the Saudi consulate—accusations that he denies. However, in an interview with PBS, the prince said he accepts responsibility for the killing that tarnished his image across the world. “It happened under my watch. I get all the responsibility, because it happened under my watch,” he told PBS for a documentary set to air on Oct. 1, ahead of the one-year anniversary of Khashoggi’s killing. Asked how the killing could have taken place without his direct approval, the man known as MBS reportedly said: “We have 20 million people. We have 3 million government employees.”