Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday became the first Western leader to acknowledge his country had heard recordings of the killing of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi. "Canada has been fully briefed up on what Turkey had to share," Trudeau said from Paris, where he was attending the Peace Forum following the WWI Armistice centenary, per the AP. His comments come just days after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he'd given recordings "to Saudi Arabia, to America, to the Germans, the French, to the British, to all of them." The Canadian leader is the first since that announcement to officially confirm that his country's intelligence had listened to the audio. He said Canada's intelligence agencies had been working "very closely" with Turkish intelligence on Khashoggi's killing.
The shared audio is the latest measure by Turkey to maintain international pressure on Saudi Arabia in its aim to stop a cover-up of the Oct. 2 killing. Trudeau said that he himself hadn't heard the audio, and he wouldn't give any details on the contents of the tapes. Trudeau also said he thanked Erdogan in person for "his strength in responding to the Khashoggi situation" when the two leaders met in Paris this weekend. France's account somewhat differed from Canada's: When questioned on France 2 TV Monday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Turkey has "not to my knowledge" given the French government any such recordings and suggested the Turks were playing games. CIA Director Gina Haspel, who visited Turkey last month for info on the probe, is said to have heard the tapes, the existence of which was leaked but never openly confirmed till Saturday.
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