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Shane Harris

17 Jun, 10 tweets, 2 min read

The Saudi embassy issued a statement today "in response to a recent media report," clearly referring to our investigation of the embassy. washingtonpost.com/national-secur… First, the embassy's statement, in full. Then some points and observations. 🧵

1.) As our story notes, we repeatedly asked for comment from the embassy. I called, sent text messages, and sent emails, which provided details on what we planned to report. The embassy replied to none of those requests.

2.) The embassy issued its statement a day after we published our report. Had they provided this statement earlier, you'd have read it in our story.

3.) The embassy's statement doesn't address one of our key findings, that two Saudi citizens, Sultan Alsuhaymi and Abdullah Hariri, are currently wanted in North Carolina on charges of first-degree murder in the death of Raekwon Moore. Both men are believed to be in Saudi Arabia.

4.) The statement doesn't address the role of Bader Alomair, an official in the embassy, who multiple sources said is involved in providing legal assistance to Saudi nationals in the U.S. We previously asked the embassy to comment on Alsuhaymi, Hariri, and Alomair.

5.) We also asked for comment on Hussam Aleidi, who is wanted for violating the terms of his probation after he was convicted on charges including assault in 2018. People familiar with his case said he returned to Saudi Arabia with the embassy’s help.

6.) The embassy stated, "Saudi diplomatic missions in the United States do not issue travel documents to citizens engaged in legal proceedings." A letter from a State Dept. official to Sen. Ron Wyden...

(con't) revealed that the Saudi government implicitly acknowledged helping its citizens escape, contradicting. years of denials. From our story:

The Saudi government clearly knows that there are Saudi citizens (Alsuhaymi, Hariri, and Aleidi among them) currently wanted in the United States. State Dept. officials have told Saudi officials that their nationals accused of crimes must face proceedings in the U.S. (end)

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Shane Harris

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15 Jun

NEW: The Saudi embassy has helped its citizens facing criminal charges flee the United States. washingtonpost.com/national-secur… This story is the result of a long investigation. Here are some of the key findings.

Two citizens of Saudi Arabia, Abdullah Hariri and Sultan Alsuhaymi, are wanted in Greenville, NC, on charges of first-degree murder in the stabbing death of Raekwon Moore, who was 22. But Hariri and Alsuhaymi will likely never see the inside of a U.S. courtroom.

Before they were charged, Alsuhaymi and Hariri left the United States and are believed to be back in Saudi Arabia, which has no extradition treaty with the U.S. We obtained the travel record that shows Alsuhaymi flew out of Dulles airport 4 days after he allegedly killed Moore.

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On Feb. 1, 2020, a group of top experts convened via teleconference in the first known effort by senior U.S. and international health officials to determine whether human engineering or a laboratory leak might explain the emergence of the virus.

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Shane Harris

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“The White House’s handling of the period between the first known symptoms—those of Hicks on Wednesday—and the president’s infection, which was confirmed about 1 a.m. Friday, is what experts considered a case study in irresponsibility and mismanagement.” washingtonpost.com/politics/trump…

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Shane Harris

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A former Saudi official close to the CIA alleges in a new lawsuit that Mohammed bin Salman tried to have him killed in Canada, in a plot that bears striking similarities to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. washingtonpost.com/local/legal-is… by @hsu_spencer and me

Aljabri asserts the MBS pressured him to return to Saudi Arabia, sent agents to the US to locate Aljabri, had malware implanted on his phone, and when Aljabri was ultimately located in Canada, sent a “hit squad” to kill him, the lawsuit asserts.

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Shane Harris

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NEW: Brian Murphy, the DHS official whose office compiled "intelligence reports" about the work of journalists and protestors, has been removed from his job. washingtonpost.com/national-secur…

Chad Wolf, the acting secretary of DHS, decided on Friday to remove Murphy. Wolf had ordered I &A to stop collecting information about journalists after our story on Thursday.

Murphy was drawing scrutiny and criticism internally for trying to expand the activities of I&A, which is technically an element of the intel community but is not operational in the same was as, for example, the FBI, where Murphy was previously an agent working counterterrorism.

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Shane Harris

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29 Jul 20

New: Trump blocked John Brennan from seeing his classified notes and records, ex-CIA director writes in forthcoming memoir. washingtonpost.com/national-secur…

Notably, Brennan says that he still has his security clearances, contrary to Trump's case that he revoked them. But Trump issued a directive, Brennan writes, "that purportedly forbids anyone in the intelligence community from sharing classified information with me.”

Brennan writes that he only learned about this Trump order that applies to him when he asked the CIA to see his official records, a courtesy granted to all other former directors who write memoirs. The agency said, no.

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