Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman described slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi as a dangerous Islamist in a phone call with the White House, the Washington Post reported Thursday, quoting people familiar with the matter.

He used the characterization in the phone talk with President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and national security adviser John Bolton before the kingdom publicly acknowledged killing Khashoggi, the paper said in its online edition.

(Jamal Khashoggi)[Anadolu/Getty/Kyodo]

In the call, the crown prince urged Kushner and Bolton to preserve the U.S.-Saudi alliance and said the journalist was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, a group long opposed by Bolton and other senior U.S. officials.

Saudi Arabia's public prosecutor recently said the act was carried out with premeditation, in a turnaround from earlier Saudi statements calling the Washington Post columnist's death an accident that occurred during a fistfight or interrogation.

Turkish officials have said from the beginning that Khashoggi was killed with premeditation and his body was dismembered by a team of Saudi operatives dispatched from Riyadh.

In a statement released to the Washington Post, Khashoggi's family called the characterization of the journalist as a dangerous Islamist inaccurate.

"Jamal Khashoggi was not a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. He denied such claims repeatedly over the past several years," the family was quoted as saying. "Jamal Khashoggi was not a dangerous person in any way possible. To claim otherwise would be ridiculous."