Saudi Arabia has confirmed that Jamal Khashoggi was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, but the official story is that he was killed after an altercation of some kind, and that they will be conducting an investigation. But there are still serious lingering questions, and pretty much all of media Twitter is extremely skeptical of this announcement.

Do fist fights routinely involve bone saws and I just hadn't known that? No? https://t.co/qMjf7mrn0h

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) October 19, 2018

I’m old enough to remember when the Saudis said they had evidence he left the consulate. https://t.co/vnSkMTugUP

— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) October 19, 2018

The Saudi cover-up begins. The aim is to obfuscate and protect the Mad Prince by pinning this murder on fall guys. Will Trump join the cover-up? We will soon find out. https://t.co/1LyNuk6dEA

— Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) October 19, 2018

A fight in which one party had a bone saw https://t.co/mrqCGlz5GK

— Jessica Huseman (@JessicaHuseman) October 19, 2018

here’s preposterous claim of Saudi govt, whose previous lie was that Khashoggi left Istanbul consulate alive, about how he died:

“discussions between him and the persons who met him at the consulate led to a quarrel and fighting by hand which led to his death”

— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) October 19, 2018

“a fistfight that led to his death.”
That does not sound plausiblehttps://t.co/PeBLzvS3ii

— Michael Barbaro (@mikiebarb) October 19, 2018

So the story is that Khashoggi got into a "physical altercation" with 18 goons dispatched on two chartered planes to kidnap him and then they were forced to kill him?

— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) October 19, 2018

Two weeks to say he died in a brawl. This needed an investigation, huh? And still no trace of his body. Reminds me of the IQ of Syrian state media: “Today we arrested two terrorists who blew themselves up.”

— Michael Weiss (@michaeldweiss) October 19, 2018

It took three weeks to come with this lame explanation—after claiming he left the same day? https://t.co/g1AaLZROoM

— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) October 19, 2018

A 60 year old man dies in a fist fight in the consulate? This story doesn’t seem credible. #Khashoggi

— Eli Lake (@EliLake) October 19, 2018

BREAKING now… Looks like Saudis have found the person to blame. By royal decree… a fist fight went wrong and caused Jamal Khashoggi's death. Qahtani, dubbed Saudi Arabi's Steve Bannon, is fired. Why do I think we're going to need an independent investigation?

— Carol Leonnig (@CarolLeonnig) October 19, 2018

And so the Big Lie begins – Khashoggi 'died after fight' – Saudis https://t.co/maKnHrUgfl

— Robert Mahoney (@RobertMMahoney) October 19, 2018

And where is Khashoggi’s body?

— Evan Hill (@evanchill) October 19, 2018

Huge unanswered question tonight that the Saudis have not answered: WHERE IS THE BODY?

— Josh Lederman (@JoshNBCNews) October 19, 2018

Everything the Saudis are saying is patently absurd.

— Ben White (@morningmoneyben) October 19, 2018

So the Saudi government’s official line is that a 60 year-old journalist, in the consulate to pick up some marriage paperwork, decides to pick a fist-fight with 12–18 security services guys who just happened to be there, and they accidentally beat him to death? 🤨

— Garrett Haake (@GarrettHaake) October 19, 2018

On CNN, analysts were similarly skeptical. Obama administration national security official Samantha Vinograd said the only logical response is “we weren’t born yesterday,” while former director of communication for U.S. national intelligence Shawn Turner called it “laughable.” You can watch above, via CNN.

[image via screengrab]

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Josh Feldman
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