Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman was subjected to a host of sharp questions during his visit to the White House as families of the infamous 9/11 victims and media personnel demanded Saudi Arabia's accountability.
The crown prince assured Americans that Saudi Arabia is “doing its best” to ensure such an incident “never happens again," even as survivors expressed anger over his presence at the Oval office, reported CNN.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is on a visit to Washington, faced several questions on the 2018 killing of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the 9/11 victims.
Jamal, a Washington Post journalist and a vocal critic of the Saudi kingdom, was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018 and US intelligence inputs reportedly found the Saudi crown prince being directly involved in Jamal's murder.
Late Jamal Khashoggi's widow, Hanan Elatr Khashoggi, expressed her disappointment after US President Donald Trump characterised journalist Jamal as “controversial” and “unliked” as he defended Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman over his assassination.
{{/usCountry}}Late Jamal Khashoggi's widow, Hanan Elatr Khashoggi, expressed her disappointment after US President Donald Trump characterised journalist Jamal as “controversial” and “unliked” as he defended Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman over his assassination.
{{/usCountry}}Donald Trump denounced ABC News' Mary Bruce as a “terrible reporter” and threatened the network's license to broadcast after she asked Trump whether it was appropriate for his family to be doing business in Saudi Arabia while he was president, news agency AFP reported.
“Your Royal Highness, the US intelligence concluded that you orchestrated the brutal murder of a journalist. 9/11 families are furious that you are here in the Oval Office. Why should Americans trust you? And the same to you, Mr. President,” Bruce pressed the leaders.
What the crown prince said
Denouncing the claims of Saudi's involvement in the 9/11 attacks, the crown prince said that Osama Bin Laden used Saudi citizens at that event for one main purpose: to destroy this relation, to destroy the American-Saudi relation.
“I feel painful about the families of my wife and I that live in America. But we must focus on reality. Based on CIA documents, Osama Bin Laden used Saudi people at that event for one main purpose: to destroy this relation, to destroy the American-Saudi relation,” he said.
He added that this was “precisely the purpose of 9/11.”
“So, whoever buys that, that means they are helping Osama bin Laden’s purpose of destroying this relation. He knows that a strong relation between America and Saudi Arabia is bad for extremism. It’s bad for terrorism,” Salman said.
The Saudi leader also said he feels painful about the 9/11 victims, adding that the two countries should now focus on reality.
“You know, I feel painful about, you know, families of 9/11 in America. But, you know, we have to focus on reality," Mohammed bin Salman said.
Trump's hint of denial
After asking Bruce who she worked for, Trump called ABC “fake news” and defended his family's business operations in Saudi Arabia.
The president dismissed the US intelligence findings that the prince likely had some culpability in the 2018 killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi kingdom. He said “a lot of people didn't like” Khashoggi, a Saudi citizen and a Virginia resident, the AFP report read.
For his part, Prince Mohammed said Khashoggi’s death was painful and “a huge mistake.”
Trump criticized Bruce for asking the prince a “horrible, insubordinate and just a terrible question.” He laced into her after a third query, about why the White House is waiting for congressional action to release more details about sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s correspondence. “Why not just do it now?” Bruce asked.
“It’s not the question that I mind,” Trump said. “It’s your attitude. I think you are a terrible reporter. It’s the way you ask these questions.”
After addressing the Epstein question, he returned to Bruce, saying that “people are wise to your hoax.”
“I think the license should be taken away from ABC because your news is so fake and it’s so wrong,” he said.
ABC News gave no comment Tuesday on Trump’s statements.