During his visit to the Middle East, many have hoped for US President Joe Biden to address the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi to Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. Following a Saudi minister’s account of Biden’s meeting with the crown prince, Biden suggested that the Saudi minister was not very honest in his account.
Biden hinted that the account of Saudi Arabian foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir regarding his meeting with the de facto leader also known as MBS.
This follows Adel al-Jubeir’s appearance on Fox News saying that he did not “hear” Biden tell MBS that he blamed him for Khashoggi’s murder during their meeting in Jeddah Friday last week.
When pressed by reporters upon his return to Washington Sunday on whether al-Jubeir was telling the truth, Biden only said “no.”
“I didn’t hear that particular phrase,” al-Jubeir told Fox News’s Alex Hogan in an interview Saturday.
“The president mentioned that the US is committed to human rights because since the founding fathers wrote the constitution and he also made the point that American presidents – this is part of the agenda of every American president,” said al-Jubeir.
Biden previously told reporters that he brought up Khashoggi’s murder with MBS during his initial meeting. The US leader said he “indicated” to the crown prince that he held him “personally responsible” for ordering the killing of the journalist. MBS has repeatedly denied responsibility during the meeting.
The US intelligence community assessed that MBS personally “approved an operation” to capture or kill Khashoggi before his murder at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Biden has faced criticism for his visit to Saudi Arabia, especially after pledging during his campaign that he would make Saudi Arabia a “pariah state.” Vermont progressive Senator Bernie Sanders said the US leader should not have visited Saudi Arabia in the first place.
Sanders cited Khashoggi’s murder as a reason why Biden should not have gone, adding that the Saudis should not be “rewarded” by a visit of the US leader.
“I just don’t believe that we should be maintaining a warm relationship with a dictator like that,” said Sanders.