- CNN news anchor Jake Tapper tweeted that the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi could have investigated the new reports that Saudi Arabia hacked Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' phone, "but you killed him."
- The Guardian reported Tuesday that Bezos' phone had been hacked by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in May 2018.
- Tapper's tweet was a response to the Saudi Embassy in the US, who called the hacking allegations "absurd" and called for an investigation.
- If the hacking reports are true, the hack would have taken place just five months before the Saudi-directed murder of Khashoggi, who wrote for the Bezos-owned Washington Post.
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CNN anchor Jake Tapper trolled the Saudi government, saying that Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi could have investigated the Jeff Bezos phone hack "but you killed him."
Tapper's tweet came after The Guardian reported on Tuesday that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman had hacked Jeff Bezos' personal phone in May 2018 via a video file sent on WhatsApp. The UN backed the claims in a. Wednesday statement.
The alleged hack would have happened just five months before the October 2018 murder of Khashoggi, who wrote for the Bezos-owned Washington Post, at the hands of Saudi agents in Istanbul.
Tapper's tweet was a response to a tweet from the Saudi embassy in Washington, DC, that denied the hacking reports and called for an investigation into the matter.
"Great idea. There was a respected Washington Post columnist who i would love to have investigate the matter but you killed him," Tapper wrote, alluding to Khashoggi.
The phone hacking reports has resurfaced a conversation on how the National Enquirer, a US tabloid, gained access to intimate texts and photos between Bezos and his girlfriend Lauren Sanchez, with whom he was having an extramarital affair at the time.
The Enquirer had threatened to publish the intimate photos, and Bezos and his security chief, Gavin De Becker, both alluded at the time that Saudi Arabia was involved. The Enquirer's proprietor, David Pecker, has a longstanding relationship with Crown Prince Mohammed.
The murder of Khashoggi - who had publicly criticized the Saudi government and Crown Prince Mohammed in his writing - has been widely linked to Crown Prince Mohammed. The CIA and UN both believe he ordered it.
Last December Saudi Arabia sentenced five people to death, and three more to jail, over the killing, but Crown Prince Mohammed maintained he was unaware of the killing in advance or had any direct responsibility.
- Read more:
- How the Saudis and the National Enquirer are linked to the alleged hacking and blackmail attempt against Jeff Bezos
- It's been 1 year since Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez had their relationship leaked to the world - here's the full story of their whirlwind romance
- The Saudi hack on Jeff Bezos' phone went on for months and led to gigabytes of personal data being stolen, according to new report
Great idea. There was a respected Washington Post columnist who i would love to have investigate the matter but you killed him https://t.co/ynNJ7kg4z5
- Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) January 22, 2020