The controversy over the killing of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and US-based critic of the Saudi leadership, flared again in the Oval Office in front of cameras on Tuesday as the kingdom’s de facto ruler made his first White House visit in more than seven years, seeking to further rehabilitate his global image tarnished by the incident.
Trump later announced that he was designating Saudi Arabia as a major non-Nato ally, and the two sides announced agreements on arms sales, civil nuclear cooperation, artificial intelligence and critical minerals.
US intelligence agencies concluded that bin Salman approved the capture or killing of Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The crown prince denied ordering the operation but acknowledged responsibility as the kingdom’s de facto ruler.
‘‘A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you like him or didn’t like him,’’ Trump told reporters, with bin Salman sitting beside him.
‘‘Things happened, but he knew nothing about it, and we can leave it at that.’’
Bin Salman said it had been ‘‘painful’’ to hear about Khashoggi’s death but that his government ‘‘did all the right steps of investigation’’.
‘‘We’ve improved our system to be sure that nothing happened like that. And it’s painful and it’s a huge mistake,’’ he told reporters.
Trump, who chided the reporter who asked the Khashoggi question ‘‘to embarrass our guest,’’ also praised the crown prince for doing an ‘‘incredible’’ job on human rights, but did not elaborate.
The warm welcome for bin Salman in Washington marks a high point for US-Saudi ties, which have suffered because of Khashoggi’s murder.
Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden travelled to the kingdom and met with the Saudi prince but he stopped short of hosting him at the White House.
Trump said he received a ‘‘positive response’’ about the prospects for Saudi Arabia normalising ties with Israel. But the crown prince made clear that while he wanted to join the Abraham Accords, he was sticking to his condition that Israel must provide a path to Palestinian statehood, which it has refused to do.
The White House announced Trump had approved future deliveries of F-35 fighter jets and the Saudis had agreed to purchase 300 American tanks.
The sale of the stealth fighter jets to the kingdom, which has requested to buy 48 of the advanced aircraft, would mark the first US sale of the advanced fighter jets to Riyadh, a significant policy shift.
Sitting next to Trump, bin Salman promised to increase his country’s US investment to $US1 trillion ($NZ3.78 trillion) from a $US600 billion pledge he made when Trump visited Saudi Arabia in May. But he offered no details or timetable.
