Trump prepares to welcome Saudi Arabia’s controversial crown prince to White House

Geoff Bennett:

Today, President Trump announced he will sell Saudi Arabia F-35 fighter jets. It comes ahead of tomorrow's arrival of the kingdom's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

For years, MBS, as he's widely known, was shunned on the world stage, but President Biden visited him in Riyadh three years ago.

And Nick Schifrin reports that now President Trump will bestow on the 40-year-old ruler the pomp and pageantry usually reserved for an official state visit.

Nick Schifrin:

At the White House, preparations for a royal welcome. Saudi flags flutter on Pennsylvania Avenue ahead of a presidential embrace of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's first visit to the Oval Office since 2018.

President Donald Trump:

Five hundred and twenty-five million dollars, that's peanuts for you.

Man:

The U.S. Marines and Saudi Marines.

Nick Schifrin:

The two are expected to sign a new defense pact that will expand training, commit the U.S. to consider military intervention if Saudi Arabia were attacked, and sell the U.S.' most advanced fighter jet, the F-35.

Donald Trump:

We will be doing that. We will be selling F-35s, yes.

Man:

An engineering marvel.

Nick Schifrin:

The U.S. and Saudi Arabia are also expected to sign an artificial intelligence agreement that will allow Saudi Arabia to purchase the world's most advanced computer chips, a nuclear agreement, although it's not clear whether Saudi Arabia will be allowed to enrich its own uranium, and a joint mining and distribution agreement of Saudi rare earth minerals.

But what won't be signed tomorrow, one of President Trump's biggest priorities.

Donald Trump:

I hope that Saudi Arabia will be going into the Abraham Accords fairly shortly.

Nick Schifrin:

Five years ago, Israel and three Arab countries normalized relations.

Donald Trump:

We're here this afternoon to change the course of history.

Nick Schifrin:

Since then, Saudi Arabia was always considered the biggest prize. Today, Saudi Arabia is willing to pay for Gaza's reconstruction and endorses U.S. plans to replace Israeli soldiers still in Gaza with international troops, but Saudi officials insist, until Israel's ready to establish a Palestinian state in Gaza, they will not join the Abraham Accords.

And Mohammed bin Salman himself has raised the price.

Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabian Crown Prince (through interpreter): The kingdom renews its condemnation and categorical rejection of the genocide committed by Israel against the brotherly Palestinian people.

Narrator:

One of the most colorful visits to the presidential cruiser was that of the ruler of Saudi Arabia.

Nick Schifrin:

The U.S.-Saudi relationship is America's longest with an Arab state.

Narrator:

A vastly important question of oil.

Nick Schifrin:

Eighty years ago, president Franklin Roosevelt greeted Ibn Saud, the warrior monarch backed by a fanatical clergy, to create a fundamental agreement, American security for Saudi energy.

The alliance was tested after the 2018 assassination of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The U.S. intelligence community assessed that MBS approved the operation based on his — quote — "control of decision-making in the kingdom, the direct involvement of a key adviser and members of Mohammed bin Salman's protective detail in the operation and the crown prince's support for using violent measures to silence dissidents abroad, including Khashoggi."

Donald Trump:

I like him a lot. I like him too much.

Nick Schifrin:

But President Trump has stuck by MBS, who's expected to lead the kingdom for the next half-century. He will come to Washington not getting everything he wants or giving everything away, but he will arrive to open arms.

For the PBS "News Hour," I'm Nick Schifrin.

Geoff Bennett:

For perspective now on tomorrow's visit to the White House by the Saudi crown prince, we get two views.

Former Congressman Tom Malinowski was assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor during the Obama administration. He's now a visiting scholar at Seton Hall University school of diplomacy, and he's also running to reclaim a seat in Congress in New Jersey's upcoming special election.

Kirsten Fontenrose was senior director for the Gulf on National Security Council staff during the first Trump administration. She's now a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.

With a welcome to you both, Kirsten, we will start with you.

From your vantage point, why does it make strategic sense for the White House to welcome MBS this week? Why roll out this level of diplomatic engagement?

Kirsten Fontenrose, The Atlantic Council:

It makes a lot of sense because this visit will advance the security and economic conversations that were begun during President Trump's visit to the kingdom this past spring.

It also — in terms of policy here and in the kingdom, any time you have a head of state visit, it forces the resolution of debates, it forces the finalization of agreements, because these visits are when large agreements are announced. So scheduling them creates a flurry of activity that might otherwise drag out indefinitely, so real strides can be made on the portfolios that two countries are working.

It just throws everything into overdrive, so you get places more quickly.

Geoff Bennett:

Tom Malinowski, you have argued in the past that welcoming MBS just legitimizes a leader responsible for serious human rights abuses.

Why do you believe this visit is the wrong move for the U.S.?

Fmr. Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ):

I would never argue that we shouldn't talk to MBS. He's the leader of Saudi Arabia. We have to engage.

But look at the emerging deal around this visit. It looks like MBS, the Saudi crown prince, will be getting F-35s, a defense deal, access to the most advanced American microchips, in addition to the whitewashing of his human rights record, basically his entire wish list.

And he's getting those things from Trump the president. And in exchange, he is giving Trump the man, Trump the businessman, a set of lucrative real estate deals. And the question I would have is, what does the United States get out of this? I'm sure they will talk about Gaza and the things that the Saudis can and hopefully will do to rebuild Gaza. And that's good, but I don't think it justifies the extraordinary step of a White House visit.

Saudi Arabia is not prepared to recognize Israel at this point. There doesn't seem to be anything on the agenda about Saudi Arabia no longer purchasing Russian oil and supporting Putin's war machine in Ukraine. And I see no prospect, at least there's no signaling of any progress on human rights in Saudi Arabia that might justify inviting the killer of Jamal Khashoggi to the White House.

So it looks like all we're getting is corruption. And Saudi Arabia is getting pretty much everything that it wants. And that, to me, is not in the U.S. national interest.

Geoff Bennett:

Kirsten, to one of the points that Tom raises, there are critics who worry that the Trump administration is conflating U.S. interests with President Trump's business interests, and that the Trump family's financial ties in Saudi Arabia complicate this moment.

Should the American people have any reason to worry or have concerns about a conflict of interest here?

Kirsten Fontenrose:

I can't speak to the Trump family's own business interests, but I know that the items on the agenda are certainly not private interests.

Items like F-35 sales that create jobs in literally every single state. There's a piece of the F-35 made in every single state, and the ability to advance-place some of our military equipment, so if we need them, we can plug and play, dropping our troops in place with an interoperable system and equipment they're already familiar with.

Things like assistance for rebuilding Gaza, assistance with supporting but monitoring Syria, assistance with Red Sea shipping security, civilian nuclear joint research that will advance the goals of both nations, those things are national interest topics, not private family interest topics. So I think whether or not there are parallel discussions, these items on the agenda are serving national interests.

Geoff Bennett:

And for these types of visits, as you both know, success is often measured in terms of deliverables.

So, Tom, from your perspective, are these the kinds of deliverables, defense cooperation, tech transfer, nuclear cooperation, that the U.S. should be offering to Saudi Arabia right now?

Fmr. Rep. Tom Malinowski:

These are deliverables for Saudi Arabia. These are related to Saudi Arabia's national interest, not so much to ours. In fact, there are a lot of folks, even in the current administration's national security apparatus, who are very worried about tech transfer from Saudi Arabia to China.

This is one reason F-35s have been held up in the past. And for the same reasons, I think it is a terrible idea to be giving Saudi Arabia access to the most advanced American microchips. So the deliverables are all on their side. And the discussions about the Trump family's business interest are what led up to this visit.

And it's not just a conflict of interest. It is a complete defiance of the Constitution of the United States, which says that presidents are not allowed to receive emoluments, which means fees, salaries, profits, from foreign governments.

In fact, the Constitution, in its antiquated, but actually quite relevant to the current-day language, specifies you're not supposed to receive those things from foreign princes. And here we are in the 21st century a president essentially laughing at the explicit language of the Constitution.

And I think that colors everything about this visit.

Geoff Bennett:

Shifting our focus back to MBS, Kirsten, there are those who argue that MBS is more repressive at home than any Saudi leader in modern history. What makes you confident that a White House visit won't just embolden him?

Kirsten Fontenrose:

Every U.S. administration — Trump did in the first administration, certainly Obama, Biden, Trump again — we always raise our human rights concerns with heads of state, Saudi or otherwise, but we do it privately.

We do it behind the scenes because airing dirty laundry is never the way to soften up a potentially oppressive leader to change that tune. And speaking very, frankly, realpolitik, we don't have levers to change his domestic policy. We can press on these issues.

But there are many other files where we have asks of Saudi Arabia, many other places where we have national security interests, like on Iran, or where Americans have interests, like on Gaza or Israel, or where the U.S. economy has interests, like Saudi direct investment into our private sector.

So we can make these asks, but if they are considered the number one ask, then we put at risk our ability to achieve the others.

Geoff Bennett:

Kirsten Fontenrose, Tom Malinowski, our thanks to you both.

Fmr. Rep. Tom Malinowski:

Thank you.