Donald Trump has by no means been shy about proclaiming his affection for numerous dictators and right-wing authoritarians. One particular person he has constantly praised since his time in workplace? Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whom the ex-president dubbed a “nice man” in a current interview, regardless of the minor method of that complete bone-saw-murder enterprise.
Showing on Saudi state-owned TV community Al Arabiya, Trump said that whereas the connection between Saudi Arabia and the US is “tremendous proper now,” when he was president, “it was nice with capital letters. G-R-E-A-T, nice.” (Sure, he truly spelled it out.) Trump added that he has “a lot respect for the king, a lot respect for Mohammed, who’s doing nice. I imply, he’s actually a visionary. He’s carried out issues that no person else would have even thought of.” Later within the interview, he declared MBS a “nice man” who’s “revered all around the world.”
Simply so it’s clear, the person Trump claims is a “nice man” and “revered all around the world” is similar one who, according to the CIA, approved the 2018 assassination of US resident and Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi, which concerned luring Khashoggi to the consulate in Istanbul, murdering him, and dismembering him by way of bone noticed. (The Saudi authorities has lengthy claimed MBS had nothing to do with the grisly homicide, a declare that the UN doesn’t believe both.)
In 2020, Bob Woodward revealed in his e-book Rage that the then president had bragged about defending MBS following Khashoggi’s assassination. In line with Woodward, after being knowledgeable that “The folks on the [Washington] Submit are upset in regards to the Khashoggi killing,” Trump responded: “I saved his ass. I used to be in a position to get Congress to go away him alone. I used to be in a position to get them to cease.”
Why the continued reward? We’ll offer you two guesses however you’ll most likely solely want one. Per The Hill:
The Saudi authorities additionally reduce a $2 billion test for former first son-in-law Jared Kushner’s funding fund in 2022; earlier this 12 months, Kushner referred to as MBS “a visionary chief” who has “carried out a number of issues which have made the world a greater place.”
