Saudi Crown Prince makes first White House visit since Khashoggi murder

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00:00Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is on a mission to reclaim his place on the world stage,

00:05with his first White House visit since the 2018 killing of Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi

00:10sparked global outrage. With long-running oil and security ties at stake, Tuesday's meeting

00:16with President Donald Trump underscores a relationship built on strategic interests

00:21that has endured beyond Saudi Arabia's mottled human rights record. So how did the man commonly

00:27known as MBS pivot from pariah to power player? MBS's rise began when his father became king

00:34in 2015 and gave him powerful portfolios, including defense. Two years later, he ousted his older

00:41cousin as heir in a palace coup and became Crown Prince at age 31 with almost unprecedented powers.

00:49MBS vowed to open the kingdom to the world, marking a generational shift.

00:5370 percent of Saudis are under the age of 30. We will not waste 30 years of dealing with extremist

01:01ideas. We will destroy them today. He defanged the once feared religious police and swept away

01:07decades of austere social codes. Women now drive, work and mingle with men, freedoms once punishable

01:14by flogging. This year, Jennifer Lopez strutted on stage in Riyadh as models swept the catwalk in a

01:21high-profile fashion show. But the same hand that opened Saudi society also tightened its grip on

01:27power. Dissent is crushed, with critics and activists given prison and death sentences,

01:33according to rights groups, though the kingdom rejects accusations of human rights abuses.

01:38U.S. intelligence linked Jamal Khashoggi's killing in 2018 to the prince. MBS denied ordering it,

01:45but admitted responsibility as de facto ruler. Then-presidential candidate Joe Biden said Saudi

01:51Arabia should be made a pariah over the killing. But Washington ultimately moved on, driven by

01:57energy, defense and technology. Seven years on, MBS now casts himself as a broker of peace,

02:04repairing ties with Iran, pushing for a Gaza ceasefire and welcoming Syria back into the Arab fold.

02:10Under MBS, Saudi Arabia has grown its soft power, pushing itself as a tourist destination and pumping

02:18billions of dollars into global sporting events in a move critics call sports-washing.

02:24Trump's return to the White House this year revived a transactional warmth,

02:29with $600 billion in Saudi investment pledges made when the president visited Riyadh in May.

02:35While MBS presses for deals in nuclear energy and artificial intelligence,

02:39under his ambitious Vision 2030 plan to diversify the Saudi economy.

02:44The pair are also looking to deepen ties over a decades-long security deal.

02:49That sees the Saudis selling oil at favorable prices and the U.S. providing security in exchange.

02:55But a defense pact MBS wants has a hurdle. Washington is requiring the kingdom to normalize

03:01ties with Israel. For that, Riyadh is pushing Israel's government to commit to Palestinian statehood,

03:07something Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has staunchly opposed.

03:12Analysts say deals are set to be struck this trip, but with both sides likely getting less than

03:17they want. And in the meantime, what's not set to be brought up are the human rights concerns

03:22that previously sparked moral outrage.