Trump Admin Reportedly Considering Giving Saudi Crown Prince Immunity Over Lawsuit Alleging Assassination Plot

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Back in August, a former Saudi intelligence officer publicly accused Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of ordering his assassination. Saad ­Aljabri filed a lawsuit with stunning claims that “there is virtually no one Defendant bin Salman wants dead” more than him, and that he alleged the crown prince “orchestrated a conspiracy to kill him in Canada that parallels one that resulted in the death and dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi.”

Now the Washington Post reports that the United States is considering a request from the Saudi government to declare MBS has legal immunity.

Per the Post, the State Department is currently reviewing the request:

The Saudi government has asked to shield the prince from liability in response to a complaint brought by Saad Aljabri, a former Saudi counterterrorism leader and longtime U.S. intelligence ally now living in exile in Canada.

A State Department recommendation could also lead to the dismissal of the prince as a defendant in other cases recently filed in the United States, including ones accusing him of directing the death and dismemberment of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018; and of targeting a hack and leak operation to discredit an Al Jazeera news anchor Ghada Oueiss in retaliation for her critical reports on Mohammed and the crown prince of the United Arab Emirates.

Aljabri’s son told the Post, “If granted, the U.S. would essentially be granting MBS immunity for conduct that succeeded in killing Jamal Khashoggi and failed to kill my dad.”

At this point it’s unclear what the State Department’s decision will be. President Donald Trump has been criticized over his approach to Saudi Arabia, and according to Bob Woodward’s book Rage, the president bragged of MBS that he “saved his ass” amid the outcry over Khashoggi’s murder.