Don’t Forget: MBS Approved the Preposterous New Khashoggi Story

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Just a quick note. Donald Trump and others have been suggesting that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman wasn’t personally responsible for ordering the death of dissident activist Jamal Khashoggi. The odds of this being the case are minuscule, but they aren’t zero. There is a tiny chance that MBS wasn’t involved, and this is what keeps Trump going.

But it hardly matters anymore. MBS did authorize the public release of the latest explanation of what happened. It’s a plainly preposterous story, and MBS knows it. But he approved it anyway.

In other words, regardless of his initial personal involvement, he knows that the true story is so appalling that it has to be suppressed at all costs. If that means making his complicity in a coverup obvious to everyone, so be it. It’s worth even that.

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do things differently in the aftermath of a political crisis: Watergate. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after, and go deep on, stories others don’t. And we’re a nonprofit newsroom because we knew corporations and billionaires would never fund the journalism we do. Our reporting makes a difference in policies and people’s lives changed.

And we need your support like never before to vigorously fight back against the existential threats American democracy and journalism face. We’re running behind our online fundraising targets and urgently need all hands on deck right now. We can’t afford to come up short—we have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

Please help with a donation today if you can—even just a few bucks helps. Not ready to donate but interested in our work? Sign up for our Daily newsletter to stay well-informed—and see what makes our people-powered, not profit-driven, journalism special.

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