Lawmakers will meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) at the US Capitol on Wednesday, on the second day of a visit to the United States that aims to tout stronger-than-ever economic and security ties with Washington, while downplaying scrutiny of his human rights record.
President Donald Trump gave bin Salman a lavish welcome at the White House on Tuesday and defended him over the 2018 assassination. Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents, which US intelligence agencies have concluded the crown prince approved.
A handful of Republican members of Congress, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast, attended a gala dinner at the White House for bin Salman on Tuesday, according to a White House official.
MBS was considered a pariah by Washington after Khashoggi’s murder, but his rehabilitation was approved this week.
In one example of this, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who as a U.S. senator in 2019 denounced the crown prince as a “gangster,” sat a few steps away during Tuesday’s meeting in the Oval Office. Trump repeatedly said it was “an honor” to be friends with the Saudi leader.
This was in stark contrast to Washington’s view of the Saudi leader during Trump’s first term, when members of Congress became angry with Riyadh’s role in the civil war in Yemen and its human rights record, fueled by the murder of Khashoggi at a Saudi consulate in Turkiye.
“He’s reckless, he’s ruthless, he’s prone to escalation, he’s prone to taking big risks, he’s confrontational in his approach to foreign policy, and I think he’s increasingly willing to test the limits of what he can do with the United States,” Rubio said at the time.
There were multiple and persistent calls from members of Congress for accountability.
The crown prince denied ordering the operation, but acknowledged his responsibility as de facto ruler of the kingdom.
In 2019, Congress passed a resolution demanding an end to military support for the Saudi-led coalition waging war in Yemen, although there were too few votes to override Trump’s veto.
Moderate reception
Although memories of that time may have faded, MBS’s reception at the Capitol on Wednesday was probably much more subdued than the welcomes given to other world leaders.
The crown prince arrived at the Capitol building on Wednesday morning, where congressional aides said Johnson was hosting a reception for him attended by some Democratic and Republican members of Congress.
The meeting was not announced and the president’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Neither Johnson nor Senate Republican Leader John Thune planned the kind of press opportunity, with photos and brief comments, that is typically held when world leaders visit the Capitol.
This time a handful of lawmakers criticized MBS.
Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, where Khashoggi lived, criticized Trump after the Oval Office meeting with MBS.
“Instead of rolling out the red carpet for MBS and leveraging the presidency for private hotel deals, Trump should demand accountability on behalf of Khashoggi’s Virginia-based family and pressure Saudi Arabia to advance U.S. security interests. Unfortunately, this is just the latest example of Trump placing his personal financial interests above the interests of the American people,” he said in a statement.
MBS, who agreed at the meeting to increase the kingdom’s planned investments in the U.S. to $1 trillion from $600 billion, will also attend an investment conference in Washington on Wednesday that will include CEOs of major American companies.
After the meeting, the two sides also announced new agreements on arms sales, civil nuclear cooperation and artificial intelligence.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the foreign relations panel, said she was concerned about some of the initiatives announced during the visit and called on Trump and his administration to brief the committee on each commitment.
