President Joe Biden is set to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi Arabia on Friday despite saying he’d only meet with his father. The shock change of plans also comes just two years after Biden vowed to make the Middle Eastern kingdom a “pariah.” In 2020, Biden slammed the Saudi regime for the 2018 murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. MBS denied being involved in the horrific killing, but U.S. intelligence was adamant that the de-facto Saudi ruler had ordered the hit at its consulate in Turkey. It’s thought that Biden and his team will discuss issues including energy and human rights at the highly controversial face-to-face meeting, which Biden said would not take place as recently as June. “I’m not going to meet with MBS,” Biden said last month, as U.S. gas prices hit a record high. “I’m going to an international meeting, and he’s going to be part of it.”
