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State Dept Denies Claims Pompeo Heard Audio Related to Khashoggi Disappearance

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has neither heard audio nor read a transcript related to the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, State Department spokeswoman, Heather Nauert, said in a press release.
Sputnik

ABC News reported on Thursday, citing Turkish officials, that Pompeo had listened to an audio recording of Washington Post columnist and US resident Khashoggi's murder inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.

Pompeo Says Saudi Leaders Show Commitment to Thoroughly Probe Khashoggi Case

"Secretary Pompeo has neither heard a tape nor has he seen a transcript related to Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance," Nauert said on Thursday.

READ MORE: US Needs to Know Facts Behind Khashoggi Vanishing to Formulate Response — Pompeo

Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, went missing on October 2. He was last seen entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul where he went to receive papers he needed to remarry. Turkish officials earlier allegedly said they had audio and video evidence suggesting that the journalist had been murdered in the Saudi Consulate. After insisting that Khashoggi left the consulate unharmed, Saudi Arabia later said it would investigate the journalist's disappearance.

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