For Trump, the relationship with Saudi Arabia is all about money

President Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman discussed arms sales at the White House on March 20. Credit: Jabin Botsford, The Washington Post

When President Trump talks about the U.S. alliance with Saudi Arabia, he rarely mentions any Saudi role in achieving his stated objectives in the Middle East — bringing Iran to heel, forging an Israeli-Palestinian peace, and vanquishing Islamist terrorism.

Instead, he mostly talks about how much money the Saudis are spending here.

“They give us a lot of jobs. They give us a lot of business,” Trump said Saturday when asked about the CIA’s conclusion that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto Saudi leader, had ordered the killing of U.S.-based Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

View the November 19 article by Karen DeYoung on The Washington Post website here.