Since journalist Jamal Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul this past October and was never seen again, the Trump administration has essentially maintained that nothing will break the bonds of its relationship with the the kingdom and its de-facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. While this position never looked good, it was easier to maintain when Saudi Arabia was claiming that Khashoggi had left the consulate unharmed, a story that changed faster than Donald Trump could say “I talked to them, and they denied everything! Case closed!” A short time later, the Saudis admitted the dissident had disappeared, but maintained that they knew nothing. Shortly after that, their story shifted to Khashoggi having been killed in the consulate by a rogue operator, which quickly became, Oh, f--k it. We killed him in a premeditated fashion, and chopped his body up via bone saw—but the prince knew nothing.

Since then, lawmakers briefed by C.I.A. director Gina Haspel have told reporters that the situation looks pretty unambiguous. “There is zero question in my mind that the crown prince directed the murder and was kept apprised of the situation all the way through,” Senator Bob Corker told reporters, adding that if a jury were to consider the case against M.B.S., the prince would have been convicted in 30 minutes. And on Sunday, CNN released harrowing details of a transcript of the killing, in which a struggling Khashoggi repeatedly says, “I can’t breathe,” his body is heard being dismembered, and at least three phone calls are placed, one of which suggests a superior was being briefed each step of the way. At which point, one could see even Trump saying, O.K. you know what? This is too much—even for me. Instead, the White House has maintained its steadfast support of the prince, and a weekend investigation by The New York Times offers one explanation as to why: Jared Kushner’s unbreakable bromance with his murderous contemporary.

While we’ve known for some time now that Kushner and bin Salman hit it off early in Trump’s presidency, the Times reports that “the ties . . . did not happen on their own.” Rather, the prince and his advisers, “eager to enlist American support for his hawkish policies in the region and for his own consolidation of power, cultivated the relationship with Mr. Kushner for more than two years,” after having identified Ivanka Trump’s husband as “a crucial focal point in the courtship of the new administration.” And they couldn’t believe their luck when they found out how stupid and easily manipulated a man with the ear of the president would prove to be: