US president Donald Trump fiercely defended Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman at the White House on Tuesday, insisting the crown prince did not know about the 2018 killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents, effectively contradicting an assessment by US intelligence agencies.
The controversy over the killing of Khashoggi, a US-based critic of the Saudi leadership, flared again as the kingdom’s de facto ruler made his first White House visit in more than seven years seeking to further rehabilitate his global image tarnished by the incident.
US intelligence concluded that bin Salman approved the capture or killing of Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The crown prince denied ordering the operation but acknowledged responsibility as the kingdom’s de facto ruler.
“A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you like him or didn’t like him,” Mr Trump told reporters in the Oval Office with the crown prince sitting beside him. “Things happened, but he knew nothing about it, and we can leave it at that.”
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The crown prince said it had been “painful” to hear about Khashoggi’s death but that his government “did all the right steps of investigation”.
“We’ve improved our system to be sure that nothing happened like that. And it’s painful and it’s a huge mistake,” he told reporters.
Mr Trump also praised the crown prince for doing an “incredible” job on human rights but did not elaborate. Mr bin Salman has been strongly criticised by human rights groups not only for the Khashoggi killing but for his crackdown on dissent at home.
At the start of his visit, the crown prince was greeted with a lavish display of pomp and ceremony presided over by Trump on the South Lawn of the White House, complete with a military honour guard, a cannon salute and a flyover by US warplanes.
[ Why Donald Trump is rolling out red carpet for Saudi crown princeOpens in new window ]
The warm welcome in Washington is the latest sign that relations have recovered from the deep strain caused by Khashoggi’s murder
The crown prince promised on Tuesday to increase his country’s US investment to $1 trillion from a $600 billion pledge he made when Mr Trump visited Saudi Arabia in May. But he offered no details or timetable.
Talks between the two leaders looked set to advance security ties, civil nuclear co-operation and multibillion-dollar business deals with the kingdom.
Mr Trump told reporters that the two countries had reached a “defence agreement,” without providing details, and that Saudi Arabia would buy advanced US-made F-35 fighter jets.
Mr Trump said he got a “positive response” about the prospects for Saudi Arabia normalising ties with Israel. But the crown prince made clear that while he wanted to join the Abraham Accords, he was sticking to his condition that Israel must provide a path to Palestinian statehood, which it has refused to do.
The meeting underscores a key relationship – between the world’s biggest economy and the top oil exporter – that Mr Trump has made a high priority in his second term as the international uproar around the killing of Khashoggi, a Saudi insider-turned-critic, has gradually faded. - Reuters
