Given that the target was going to the embassy to get a marriage license, I believe that MBS deliberately wanted to spread fear by disappearing a journalist. I

Given that the target was going to the embassy to get a marriage license, I believe that MBS deliberately wanted to spread fear by disappearing a journalist. I think MBS very much expected to be found out, but likely assumed that it would not be such a public spectacle in US media with actual implementation details. Trump played along with it as much as he could.