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| - The upcoming release of intelligence on the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi will be a step toward ensuring accountability, President Joe Biden's administration said Thursday. The United States is planning shortly to declassify intelligence findings into the grisly October 2018 murder inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul of the US-based journalist, who had written critically about Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. "I expect that we will be in a position before long to speak to steps to promote accountability going forward for this horrific time," State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters. "It's an important step in the direction of transparency. Transparency, as it often is, is an element of accountability," he said of the report's release. On the impact of ties with Saudi Arabia, he said that Biden "will review the entirety of that relationship to make sure that it advances the interests of the American people and to ensure that it reflects the values." The report's imminent release is a sharp departure from the policies of former president Donald Trump, who hailed his close friendship with Saudi Arabia and whose son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, became texting friends with Prince Mohammed. Ahead of the memo's release, Biden will place a call to Saudi King Salman, which White House press secretary Jen Psaki said will occur "very soon." Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday held his latest talks by phone with Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan and "discussed the importance of Saudi progress on human rights, including through legal and judicial reforms," Price said. sct/bfm
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