E-Paper
Trump asks Saudi Crown Prince MBS ‘How Do You Sleep at Night?’ in bizarre speech, takes dig at Tim Cook
Donald Trump made a strange speech during his address to world's business elites, asking Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman if he sleeps at night.
President Donald Trump made a strange speech during his address to world's business elites at the Saudi-US Investment Forum, in Riyadh, asking Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman if he sleeps at night.
Trump's first foreign trip of his second term is being hosted by the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, who was charged with orchestrating the brutal assassination of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi within the Saudi embassy in Istanbul almost seven years ago.
After claiming that Riyadh had evolved into a significant global business hub, Trump received a standing ovation before posing the question, “Mohammed, do you sleep at night? How do you sleep?”
“Critics doubted it was possible, what you’ve done,” the US President said, highlighting that Saudi Arabia has “proved the critics totally wrong” in over the past eight years.
Did Trump mention Jamal Khashoggi in his speech?
Throughout his address, Trump spoke about his lengthy friendship with MBS, but there was no reference to Jamal Khashoggi's murder or indication that it was on his mind.
Following the October 2018 murder of well-known Saudi critic Khashoggi in Istanbul, U.S. intelligence subsequently stated that it suspected Crown Prince Mohammed was responsible for the killing. The American resident journalist was the victim of alleged abduction, drugging, and torture by Saudi thugs inside the embassy. MBS, however, always rejected any role in the killing.
Trump mentions removal of sanctions on Syria, trolls Tim Cook
After declaring that he was removing sanctions on Syria at the bequest of MBS and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Trump went on to declare, “Oh, what I do for the crown prince.”
Trump claimed that Saudi Arabia was now the “center of the world,” despite the Arab country's problematic human rights record.
Members of the Saudi royal family, Arab business executives, and the CEOs of some of America's largest corporations were among the attendees. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, was paying attention, as was Sam Altman, the head of OpenAI and a former buddy who is now his adversary.
Meanwhile, Trump used the occasion to make fun of Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, complimenting Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia. "Tim Cook isn't here, but you are," he said.
