Trump’s Meeting With Saudi Crown Prince

President Donald Trump welcomed Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the White House on Tuesday to discuss trade and security, among other matters. 

The two leaders met for about four hours, including a bilateral discussion in the Oval Office and a working lunch. 

Trade and investment were top of mind for both men, with bin Salman agreeing to increase planned investment in U.S. companies from approximately $600 billion to $1 trillion, calling the United States the “hottest country on the planet,” much to Trump’s delight. 

The crown prince said investments will fund projects related to magnets, artificial intelligence, and other emerging technologies to diversify his nation’s economy, which traditionally relies heavily on oil production and sales. 

Trump also vowed to sell F-35 fighter jets and advanced computing chips to Saudi Arabia. 

A flyover of six U.S. jets helped welcome bin Salman to the White House. 

“We have an extremely respected man in the Oval Office today, and friend of mine for a long time, very good friend of mine,” Trump said. 

“What he’s done is incredible in terms of human rights and everything else. And he’s the crown prince, the future king.” 

Saudi Arabia is also interested in joining the Abraham Accords—an agreement between Israel and Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan, and the United Arab Emirates initiated in 2020—according to bin Salman. 

“We want peace for the Israelis. We want peace for the Palestinians,” bin Salman said. “We want them to coexist peacefully in the region, and we will do all of this to reach that date.” 

While he is insistent on a two-state solution, which would establish a nation of Palestine—a proposal rejected by Israeli officials—Trump countered that multiple options are on the table. 

“We’ve had a very good talk of the Abraham Accords,” Trump said. “We talked about one state, two state, you know we talked about a lot of things.” 

When reporters questioned bin Salman about Saudi Arabia’s role in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the crown prince said the country investigated the matter thoroughly. 

“We’ve improved our system to be sure that nothing happens like that,” bin Salman said. “It’s painful, and it’s a huge mistake, and we are doing our best that this doesn’t happen again.” 

Trump criticized the ABC News reporter who asked the question, dismissing the inquiry as disrespectful. 

“You’re mentioning somebody that was extremely controversial,” the president said. “A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about; whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen. But [the crown prince] knew nothing about it. And we can leave it at that; you don’t have to embarrass our guest.”   

The White House gathering was the first for bin Salman since 2018, when he visited Trump during the president’s first term. 

Relations between the two nations became strained after U.S. intelligence agencies reported that Saudi Arabia played a role in planning and financing the 9/11 attacks. 

The crown prince rejected the notion, calling the allegations an attempt to “destroy the American-Saudi relation.” 

“To build our relation, to continue to open our relation, is critical for the safety of the world,” bin Salman said. “It’s critical against extremism and terrorism.”

BOOKMARKS

Federal judges in Texas have temporarily blocked the state from using newly-drawn congressional maps on the grounds that they are racially gerrymandered. “The redistricting bill’s sponsors made numerous statements suggesting that they had intentionally manipulated the districts’ lines to create more majority-Hispanic and majority-black districts,” U.S. District Judge Jeffrey V. Brown wrote in the 2-1 decision. 

Donald Trump wants Indiana Gov. Mike Braun to get his state legislature to draw new congressional districting lines. Braun said earlier this week that he was “committed to standing with [Trump] on the critical issue of passing fair maps in Indiana to ensure the MAGA agenda is successful in Congress.”

The Department of Education will transfer some of its work to other government agencies as part of Trump’s ongoing plan to dismantle it. “As we partner with these agencies to improve federal programs, we will continue to gather best practices in each state through our 50-state tour, empower local leaders in K–12 education, restore excellence to higher education, and work with Congress to codify these reforms,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a press release.  

Trump hinted on Tuesday that he may have already chosen a successor for outgoing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. “We have some surprising names, and we have some standard names that everybody’s talking about,” the president said during a meeting in the Oval Office.

U.S.-Venezuela relations may be reaching a boiling point. Read Tom Ozimek’s latest report to get caught up on new developments. 

—Stacy Robinson