Image copyright AFP Image caption The crown prince has been at the centre of weeks of turmoil
A Saudi official has said there are video recordings and intelligence showing former Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was threatened with death by his predecessor, Abdullah.
The official told the BBC that Mohammed bin Nayef was also threatened.
The statements came after US President Donald Trump said “it’s possible” Mohammed bin Salman might have been responsible for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Another Saudi official told the BBC the allegations were “rubbish”.
In the midst of a febrile week, the two officials were speaking in a telephone interview with BBC World Service.
King Salman had been King for 32 years and the transition to Mohammed bin Salman was a key part of that transition, with King Salman later passing the crown to his son.
However, on Sunday, in an interview with the CBS news programme 60 Minutes, Donald Trump expressed scepticism that Mohammed bin Salman was responsible for the killing of Mr Khashoggi , a columnist for the Washington Post.
“That’s possible. But we’ve got to find out,” he said.
He added that it would be “a disgraceful thing” if the crown prince were found to be responsible.
There has been a bitter power struggle within the royal family since the younger prince succeeded his father.
In the BBC interview, one official said the new regime would eliminate all evidence of wrongdoing within the first six months of power.
“With respect to events that happened at the Saudi consulate, it was an assassination,” said the official.
“It was carried out with the knowledge of the current Crown Prince, but he certainly had no prior knowledge.
“He knew nothing about it until he read about it and came to that conclusion in the aftermath.”
Image copyright Abdulrahman Alsharni Image caption The royal palace denies the allegations
Another member of the royal family told the BBC that Mohammed bin Nayef, the former Crown Prince, had expressed outrage at the killing of Mr Khashoggi.
“During that time Mohammed bin Nayef was our head of intelligence and he said there was an attack and he said it was extremely inappropriate and a crime that should not have been committed,” he said.
“He told [his successor] that what had happened is an outrage and an outrage from the highest standards.”
MBS’s father-in-law denies any threats to his son’s life or that he was involved in the killing.
Saudi officials have since denied that there were threats, in what is likely to be another highly charged week in the Kingdom.
Mohammed bin Nayef had been a regional governor and intelligence chief before rising to the top job.
He was later removed from the post of Crown Prince, as Mohammed bin Salman replaced him with Mohammed bin Salman .
Instead, Mohammed bin Nayef was appointed Interior Minister, a post he has held since 2015.
Image copyright AFP Image caption High-ranking security officials had also threatened Mohammed bin Nayef, says one source
The source said a video recording showed an intense confrontation between Mohammed bin Nayef and Mohammad bin Salman, then Crown Prince.
A file presentation, obtained by the BBC, allegedly confirmed this was the case, with threats from top-ranking officers being made.
The source told the BBC the transfer of power from King Salman to his son had been badly mishandled and the scenes that have emerged since were the “confrontation or murder of one man”.
Image copyright Reuters Image caption King Salman told his son that Jamal Khashoggi was a ‘traitor’
When questioned on whether Mohammed bin Salman was solely responsible for Jamal Khashoggi’s death, the source told the BBC: “It’s possible. But also it’s very probable.
“The prince Mohammed bin Salman knows exactly what happened.”
Asked whether there had been any threats to his son’s life, King Salman’s former son-in-law was clear.
“I am 100% sure that we were forced to do this in a way we did not want to do it,” he said.
“However, we are currently in a crisis and they required that in order to not let this kind of thing happen again and put the wrong people in power.
“They needed to protect the interest of the kingdom.”
There are rumours of dissension among Saudi security services, with two senior officials, Khalid bin Ali al-Saud and Sir Khalid Bin Bandar, reported to have questioned the circumstances of the killing.
