White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders responded Friday to Rep. Joaquin Castro’s (D-Texas) accusation that Jared Kushner orchestrated the killing of Saudi U.S. based journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
{mosads}Sanders tweeted that the allegation was “an outrageous slanderous lie without a shred of proof,” and that it is “reprehensible” for a member of Congress and news networks to “continue citing an article that used unnamed sources and was completely debunked.”
Earlier Friday on CNN, Castro accused Kushner, a senior White House adviser, of having “with U.S. intelligence, delivered a hit list, an enemies list, to the crown price, to [Mohammed bin Salman] MBS, in Saudi Arabia and that the prince may have acted on that.”
CNN host Poppy Harlow attempted to clarify Castro’s source for the claim, but he countered that he had “seen reporting to that effect … That needs to be investigated.”
Castro later clarified his comments on Twitter.
“To be clear, I did not intend to accuse @jaredkushner of orchestrating anything,” Castro tweeted. “Based on press reporting, I’m asking for Congress to open an investigation of whether any US Intelligence was shared with Saudi Arabia that led to political persecution or killing of #Khashoggi.”
Khashoggi has been missing for more than two weeks and was last seen entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.
Kushner and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Price Mohammed bin Salman have a well-documented relationship, though no one before Castro accused Kushner of having any involvement in the death of Khashoggi.