President Donald Trump on Tuesday dismissed long-standing U.S. intelligence assessments that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was likely aware of the 2018 killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, offering an emphatic public embrace of the Saudi leader during his first visit to the White House in seven years.
The meeting underscored how dramatically the U.S.–Saudi relationship has shifted since the fallout over Khashoggi’s assassination. What once prompted global condemnation and strained bilateral ties has now given way to renewed political warmth, a slate of new defense agreements, and an expanded Saudi investment pledge that Trump hailed as “historic.”
Standing beside the crown prince in the Oval Office, Trump dismissed questions about Khashoggi’s killing as inappropriate and reiterated his belief that Mohammed bin Salman had no advance knowledge of the operation, despite U.S. intelligence findings declassified in 2021 that concluded otherwise.
“Whether you liked him or didn’t like him, things happen,” Trump said. “But he knew nothing about it. And we can leave it at that.”
The crown prince described the killing as a “painful” and “huge mistake,” offering no new details about Saudi Arabia’s internal handling of the case but insisting his government had taken “all the right steps.”
The White House used the visit to announce a series of high-profile deals. Trump designated Saudi Arabia a major non-NATO ally, formalized an agreement for the kingdom to purchase F-35 stealth fighter jets and nearly 300 U.S. tanks, and unveiled new cooperation initiatives on capital markets, mineral supply chains, and counter-terrorism financing.
Saudi Arabia, in turn, said it would increase its planned investment in the United States to $1 trillion—up from $600 billion previously pledged.
The summit, framed by a military flyover and a formal black-tie dinner attended by prominent business figures including Elon Musk and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, marked a clear re-alignment of priorities for a president who sees Saudi cooperation as pivotal to a broader regional agenda that includes expanding the Abraham Accords.
But the meeting also drew sharp criticism. Human rights advocates accused Trump of overlooking repression in the kingdom, citing a surge in executions and continued arrests of activists and journalists.
They also raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest involving Trump family business projects in Saudi Arabia.
Inside the administration, the F-35 sale has prompted internal debate. U.S. law requires Washington to preserve Israel’s qualitative military edge in the region, and intelligence officials remain wary of advanced American technology potentially reaching China through deepening Saudi-Chinese military cooperation.
For now, however, Trump appears determined to advance the U.S.–Saudi partnership while encouraging Riyadh to move closer to diplomatic normalization with Israel—a step the crown prince said remains conditional on progress toward a Palestinian state.
“We want to be part of the Abraham Accords,” Mohammed bin Salman said, “but only with a clear path toward a two-state solution.”
