Corker: ‘Everything indicates’ missing Saudi journalist was murdered

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on Thursday that while he hopes Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi is alive, “everything indicates” that Saudi Arabia murdered him.

“If it’s found that they, as everything indicates today … murdered a journalist, that will hugely change our relationship. I mean, there’s no question about it,” Corker told reporters.

He added that while he hopes Khashoggi is found alive, or sequestered somewhere, “everything points to the fact that … this was something that was thought out and done and that’s he’s not alive anymore.”

Corker separately told reporters on Capitol Hill, “I think they did it and I think, unfortunately, he’s deceased.”

Khashoggi has not been seen since last week when he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to get paperwork for his marriage to his Turkish fiancée.

Turkish officials have claimed Khashoggi was murdered inside the consulate and dismembered. The Saudis have called the allegations “baseless,” arguing that he left the consulate alive the same day he arrived.

But Corker told reporters earlier this week that the Saudis indicated they did could not provide footage of Khashoggi leaving.