President Joe Biden raised the murder of U.S. citizen and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi during his highly anticipated meeting with Saudi officials, including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
“I raised it at the top of the meeting, making clear what I thought of it at the time and what I think of it now,” Biden told reporters Friday in Jeddah.
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“He basically said that he was not personally responsible for it. I indicated that I thought he was. He said he was not personally responsible for it, and he took action against those who were responsible,” the president added.
Biden defended the Saudi meeting, criticized as an example of flip-flopping after promising to make the kingdom “a pariah” during the 2020 campaign over Khashoggi’s death. But Biden bristled at a question shouted at him after brief prepared remarks regarding whether he can ensure a similar incident will not happen again.
“God love you, what a silly question,” he said. “How could I possibly be sure of any of that? I just made it clear if anything occurs like that again, they’ll get that response and much more.”
Biden also laughed off criticism concerning the decision to fist-bump the crown prince, a warmer greeting than many observers were expecting. The Washington Post condemned the gesture.
“The fist bump between President Biden and Mohammed bin Salman was worse than a handshake — it was shameful,” Washington Post publisher and CEO Fred Ryan said in a statement. “It projected a level of intimacy and comfort that delivers to MBS the unwarranted redemption he has been desperately seeking.”
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Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi royal family and government, was killed in 2018 during a visit to the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul, where he had an appointment to collect paperwork to marry his Turkish fiancee.
