Biden's intel pick to make Khashoggi report public

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - Incoming US President Joe Biden's pick to lead the US intelligence community committed Tuesday to providing Congress with an unclassified report on the brutal murder of slain Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

Under law, the intelligence community was already supposed to have submitted the report detailing who was responsible for Khashoggi's grisly murder, but US President Donald Trump blocked the unclassified assessment from being provided to lawmakers.

Avril Haines said she would "absolutely" follow the law amid questioning from Senator Ron Wyden during her confirmation hearing.

Biden's pick for Director of National Intelligence is expected to be confirmed to her post as soon as Wednesday.

Khashoggi was assassinated inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in October 2018 after being lured there by Saudi officials to receive legal documents he needed to marry.

The CIA reportedly concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered Khashoggi's murder. But Trump resolutely shielded bin Salman from facing consequences for the killing, including blocking the intelligence agency's assessment from being handed to lawmakers.

Haines also vowed to provide Congress with a public assessment of the threat posed by the Qanon movement, including any foreign efforts to influence it.

The internet conspiracy theory falsely alleges that Trump is at war with a Satan-worshiping cabal of pedophiles that secretly run the world. It has gone mainstream within segments of the Republican Party with recently sworn-in lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene an avowed supporter.

Several of the individuals who stormed the US Capitol on Jan. 6 were photographed wearing or carrying paraphernalia associated with the far-fetched conspiracy, including its eponymous "Q."