The entrance from the South Portico of the White House is usually reserved for heads of state, military guards and jets in flight. Plus a strong defense of one of the most controversial cases in the last seven years: the death of Jamal Khashoggi. For his first meeting in Washington since 2018 and first visit to the United States since the murder of the Washington Post activist and journalist, Donald Trump welcomed Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman with great respect. “A very respected leader, a good friend of mine, a man who has done extraordinary things for human rights,” the tycoon explained.
Mohammed bin Salman and Donald Trump
The Saudi visit comes at one of the most difficult moments in the two tycoons’ mandates, with approval ratings plummeting, dissatisfaction with his management of the economy rising, and Maga’s base irritated by his management of the Epstein case skyrocketing. Trump’s tension was also visible in heated debates with the press in the Oval Office, especially when the pedophile financier case was brought up. However, the president managed to get what he had hoped for from the visit: assurances from bin Salman that there would be investments in the United States promised in their meeting in May. Indeed, the crown prince relaunched, announcing that Riyadh was ready to increase from 600 to 1,000 billion.
Late in the evening in Italy it became known that the United States and Saudi Arabia had signed an agreement on the sale of American F-35 jets to Riyadh and civil nuclear power plants. The United States and Saudi Arabia signed an agreement on civil nuclear energy and defense during a visit by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, according to a statement from the White House. The two countries ratified a “joint declaration” on civil nuclear energy that “creates the legal basis for decades of multibillion-dollar cooperation” and is “conducted in accordance with strict non-proliferation standards,” the White House stressed. Furthermore, Donald Trump “approved a major arms sales deal, which includes future deliveries of the F-35, America’s technologically advanced fighter jet.”
The operation was not only opposed by the Pentagon, which warned of the risks of selling weapons and technology to countries that have security partnerships with China. But also from Israel, the only country in the Middle East that has powerful American military aircraft. Congressional approval is still needed to complete the operation.
Trump welcomes bin Salman to the White House
However, the document that Capitol Hill will not question is the security agreement with Saudi Arabia, modeled on the agreement Trump signed with Qatar in September, that would guarantee Riyadh access to American chips and advanced technology. It is precisely because, as happened in Doha, that the law will be passed through a presidential decree and not through Congress, that the law could be repealed by any future government. In the Oval Office, the media also mentioned the close business ties between the Trump family and Riyadh. The president denied any kind of “conflict of interest”, branding the story ‘fake news’ and claiming it had nothing to do with the family business. “They invest all over the world, wherever they want.” The tycoon and his son-in-law Jared Kushner have built a solid relationship with Prince Mohammed bin Salman during his first term in office. After Trump left the White House, the Saudi government fund, the Public Investment Fund, invested $2 billion in a private equity fund created by Kushner.
Trump flies the jet he wants to sell to bin Salman
Not only that, Donald has chosen Riyadh as the destination for his first official trip abroad this year, and the Trump Organization has announced projects with Dar Global in the Middle East, including a $1 billion development plan in Jeddah, and a luxury resort in the Maldives. Ivanka’s husband even supported the prince after Khashoggi’s murder sparked widespread condemnation in the West. Now Trump is the one defending his Saudi friend. When pressed by journalists, the Riyadh leader defined the killing as a “grave mistake”, and assured that he had carried out all relevant investigations. Meanwhile the leader of the free world dismissed Khashoggi’s death as “something that happened. A lot of people didn’t like it.” Trump then attacked the journalist who asked bin Salman the question, who didn’t bat an eyelid. “He doesn’t know anything about it, you’re embarrassing him,” The Donald warned, even though the CIA concluded several years ago that the crown prince had authorized an expedition to kill the journalist at the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul. The topics discussed were of course also the reconstruction of Gaza and the normalization of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel. In recent weeks, Trump has repeatedly spoken about the possibility of reaching a deal, which is a key goal of the White House. Bin Salman said he was willing “as soon as possible”, but also emphasized that without starting the path towards establishing a Palestinian state, Riyadh would not join the Abraham Accords.
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