Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington during his first White House visit since the global backlash that followed the killing of Jamal Khashoggi. Analysts say tensions over the 2018 incident have largely faded as both sides focus on strategic ties.
00:00Now, we're seven years on. The Crown Prince's reputation has certainly taken some hits from its association with the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi back in October of 2018.
00:11But the significance of this visit comes, I guess, maybe think of a couple of different fronts. First, really just reaffirming that Mohammed bin Salman is back, that even beyond the U.S.-Saudi relationship enduring throughout that time period, that he, Mohammed bin Salman himself, is kind of welcomed, at least by the president, back in Washington, D.C., that he's no longer a pariah.
00:41I kind of doubt that President Trump has any
01:11personal problems with that. But certainly during his first term, it was more that it was seen as a major political liability, whereas now in the second term, there are honestly so many stories
01:24flurrying around regarding President Trump, regarding potential conflicts of interest, regarding potential abuse of power, that this is really just no longer ranking in the top 10 and not...
01:35There's certainly ambitions of getting a defense agreement similar to that which Qatar received after the
02:05Israeli strike on the Israeli strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar back in September.
02:10The hope is that at least you would get kind of an executive order that at least on paper commits the United States to Saudi Arabia's defense.
02:16I think the Trump administration is much more transactional with respect to Saudi Arabia.
02:34As with the first term for President Trump, there's really no emphasis on human rights.
02:38So that's much less of an obstacle for this relationship.
02:42Certainly some of the president's supporters strongly prioritize normalization with Israel, but the president himself seems open to kind of cutting a number of side deals without making the centerpiece of his negotiations.
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