Trump defends Saudi Crown Prince

US President Donald Trump has defended Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman after a journalist questioned the royal’s role in the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

During a press conference in the Oval Office during the Crown Prince’s trip to Washington, D.C., a member of the American press questioned MBS (as the Saudi is also known) about his role in the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

The President jumped in and responded to the question, “You’re mentioning somebody that was extremely controversial. A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about. Whether you liked him or didn’t like him, things happen, but he knew nothing about it. And would you leave it at that? You don’t have to embarrass our guest by asking a question.”

This is in contrast to the findings of the CIA in 2018, which concluded the Crown Prince approved of the murder of the Saudi dissident.

For his part, Crown Prince Mohammed denied knowledge of the attack, calling it “painful,” and said Saudi Arabia is working to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

“It’s a huge mistake, and we are doing our best that this doesn’t happen again,” he said.

Official White House photo

In the same meeting in the Oval Office, the Crown Prince announced that Saudi Arabia was going to invest more money in the United States for things such as artificial intelligence. In May, the Arab country announced they were going to invest $600 billion in the United States, but that has increased to $1 trillion with the new revelation.

“The Crown Prince announced today that Saudi Arabia will be increasing their investment commitments in the United States to almost $1 trillion, reflecting deepening trust and momentum for the United States under President Trump’s leadership,” the White House said.

The United States is set to sell F-35s to Saudi Arabia.

An official dinner was held in the evening in the East Room of the White House, where Trump declared Saudi Arabia a major non-NATO ally.