With a rap of his knuckles, President Joe Biden broke one of the most straightforward promises that he made on the presidential campaign trail: to make the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia a “pariah” over the state-coordinated assassination of a journalist in 2018.
He’s not sure why you think it’s such a big deal.
“God love you—what a silly question,” Biden said in response to a reporter’s question about whether he could guarantee that Saudi Arabia wouldn’t target another critic in the future. “How could I possibly be sure of anything?”
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Biden’s decision on Friday to fist-bump with Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince and de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia who U.S. intelligence agencies believe personally ordered the murder and dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi, outraged critics of the regime, from Khashoggi’s family to his former employer.
“Hey @POTUS, Is this the accountability you promised for my murder?” tweeted Hatice Cengiz, Khashoggi’s fiancée, from a Twitter account under her late partner’s name. “The blood of MBS’s next victim is on your hands.”
Fred Ryan, the publisher of the Washington Post, which employed Khashoggi, called the exchange “shameful,” and a “display of “intimacy and comfort that delivers to MBS the unwarranted redemption he has been desperately seeking.”
Biden laughed when informed that the fist-bump—which came after days of debate over whether he would shake the autocrat’s hand—had ignited so much criticism, although he said of Cengiz’s remarks that ‘“I’m sorry she feels that way.”
“I raised it at the top of the meeting, making it clear what I thought of it at the time, and what I thought of it now,” Biden said of Khashoggi’s murder, pledging to “always stand up for our values.”
The crown prince’s response, Biden noted, was to deny his own personal responsibility for Khashoggi’s murder at the Saudi embassy in Turkey four years ago.
“He basically said that he was not personally responsible for it,” Biden said, “and he took action against those who were responsible.”
Biden was already facing increasing criticism for his decision to meet with bin Salman at all, particularly given his longtime criticism of Saudi Arabia’s human rights abuses both domestically and abroad. But the global fuel crisis ignited by the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February has sent oil, food and energy prices soaring, and the meeting was intended to help reengage with the region as China seeks to expand its sphere of influence.
“My views on Khashoggi have been absolutely, positively clear,” Biden said at the outset of his five-day trip. “The reason I’m going to Saudi Arabia is to promote U.S. interests in...[and] to reassert our influence in the Middle East.”
