MEDIA/SANCTIONS/SAUDI ARABIA/TREASURY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Trump administration on Thursday [11-15-18] imposed sanctions targeting 17 Saudi Arabian officials — but not the powerful crown prince — over the death of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi more than a month after the Saudi critic went missing. The Treasury Department designated the officials for sanctions over what it called ‘serious human rights abuse,’ freezing any U.S. assets and barring American citizens from engaging in business with them. The announcement named royal court adviser Saud al-Qahtani and said he led the team that flew into Istanbul just hours before Khashoggi entered the consulate there for paperwork relating to his planned marriage. Al-Qahtani was fired from his post in late October. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who decided not to attend the glitzy ‘Davos in the Desert’ business and investment conference in Riyadh amid outrage over Khashoggi’s death, said al-Qahtani and the other 16 officials were directly involved in the “abhorrent killing” and must face consequences for it. He also called on the Saudi government to “end any targeting of political dissidents or journalists’…Human rights groups, however, expressed outrage that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is close to presidential adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner, was left out of the sanctions.”
–Jesus Rodriguez, “Trump administration sanctions Saudi officials, but not crown prince, over Khashoggi,” Politico, November 15, 2018 4:37 pm