Biden told reporters on Friday while on the final leg of his Middle East tour that he had told Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that he believed the Saudi leader was responsible for Jamal Khashoggi’s murder in 2018.
“With respect to the murder of Khashoggi, I raised it at the top of the meeting, making it clear what I thought of it at the time and what I think about it now,” Biden told reporters.
Biden added, “He basically said that he was not personally responsible for it. I indicated that he was, and he said he was not personally responsible for it and he took action against those who were responsible.”
A top Saudi official, however, says he ‘did not hear’ Biden blame the Crown Prince for the Khashoggi murder.
“I didn’t hear that particular phrase,” Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia Adel al-Jubeir told Fox News’ Alex Hogan after Biden’s trip to the region had concluded. “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.”
White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich posted on her Twitter feed that after President Biden departed Saudi Arabia on Air Force One, Saudi FM Adel al-Jubeir called her colleague Alex Hogan back for a 2nd interview, even though Fox interviewed him yesterday. Jacqui reported that “he [a top official] pointedly claimed he “did not hear” Biden tell MBS he believed he was responsible for Khashoggi’s murder.”
Jacqui said, “This is one of many claims Saudis made only at the conclusion of Biden’s trip — dampening White House touting incremental progress on 2 key objectives: normalizing relations between Israel & Saudi Arabia, and bolstering energy security.”
Despite Biden telling reporters that the trip to the Middle East was a success, Saudis confirmed a very different picture with a list of key takeaways that proved the trip was anything but successful, one being that the Crown Prince will not be increasing oil production by much and that he’s only prepared to produce max 13 million barrels per day, up from its current production of 10.2 million barrels per day. This was not the news we were hoping for back here in America.
This is one of many claims Saudis made only at the conclusion of Biden’s trip — dampening White House touting incremental progress on 2 key objectives: normalizing relations between Israel & Saudi Arabia, and bolstering energy security pic.twitter.com/0JkTJW1I0z
— Jacqui Heinrich (@JacquiHeinrich) July 16, 2022
The White House correspondent also added “Another interesting tidbit: the Saudis have been very keen to know when our reports will be airing – indicating they’re watching every moment of coverage and choreographing their responses as they see necessary – hence calling @AlexHoganTV back for a second interview.”
It appears Saudi officials are very keen on fact-checking Biden’s every report and have already begun calling out the President’s misleading statements in order to set the record straight on what really went on in Saudi Arabia as well as the results of the trip.
