Pompeo says ABC News story about tapes of killing of reporter is false

Washington Times:
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is flatly denying an ABC News report that said he listened to, and read the transcript of, audio of columnist Jamal Khashoggi being murdered in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul.

ABC quoted a “senior Turkish official” for the bombshell story that indirectly confirms that such a tape exists and that a Saudi hit squad killed Mr. Khashoggi.

The Turks have leaked a number of sensational allegations to the U.S. press about how the missing Islamic activist met his demise. To date, the administration of Recep Erdogan hasn’t released any video or audio evidence which would apparently have come from bugging the consulate.

Mr. Pompeo has visited Saudi Arabia and Turkey to urge an open investigation as he tries to contain the crisis. He then headed to Mexico.

He met with the traveling press Thursday night.

“I will take your Khashoggi question and only that one,” he said. “I’ve seen no tape. I’ve seen no – or I’ve heard no tape. I’ve seen no transcript. And the network that reported that ought to pull down the headline that says I have.”

He then asked a reporter, “Do you work for ABC?”

“You should actually ask them. They’re peers of yours. You should tell them that the Secretary of State is on the record saying this and that they shouldn’t – they shouldn’t do that. This is wrong to do to the fiancé of Khashoggi. We should be factual when we’re reporting things about this. This is a very serious matter that we’re working diligently on. And so to put out headlines that are factually false does no one any good. You should encourage all your colleagues to behave that way. It’s most constructive when the media tells the truth. It’s very useful.”

ABC continued to promote the story Friday morning. It added Mr. Pompeo’s denial deep into the story.
...
If Pompeo is correct, ABC News' source lied to them.  It is not the first false story to come out of Turkey.  Initially, there was a claim that Khashoggi's Apple watch recorded the assault, but that is unlikely since it was in a secure facility and he is not believed to have the password for the wifi within it.  Turkey has not indicated another source for the alleged tape.

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