“We were going to in fact make Saudi Arabia pay the price, and make them, in fact, the pariah that they are,” Biden said in a 2019 debate and rather than fold before the Russian invasion to mitigate the damage to energy markets, he folds now.
Mike Pompeo slammed Joe:
“President Biden said he would make the kingdom of Saudi Arabia a pariah state. That was an enormous mistake.
“But let’s look at the facts. They are an important security partner for the United States.
“There’s only one country in that whole region that wants to threaten the United States of America and Israel and wipe us from the face of the earth.
“The transformations that have taken place in Saudi Arabia, we can all argue about the pace and the speed with which they’ve taken place, but it disbanded police forces that threatened women” and that the “crown prince has made life better for all the Saudi people, including females there.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden will “reinforce the United States’ iron-clad commitment to Israel’s security and prosperity and attend a Summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council plus Egypt, Iraq, and Jordan.
“He will also meet with counterparts from across the region, to advance U.S. security, economic, and diplomatic interests,” she said.
Fist bump between President Biden and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at Al Salam Royal Palace in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. pic.twitter.com/37Oz5EwwIB
— CSPAN (@cspan) July 15, 2022
The Saudi government is quick to post photos of the fist bump between Biden and MBS https://t.co/yc3fkGK2xI
— Tyler Pager (@tylerpager) July 15, 2022
Yes, it’s a fist bump rather than a handshake. BUT Biden still fist-bumped the man who ordered the murder — and bone-saw dismemberment — of a U.S. journalist, after refusing to say if he would directly confront MBS on Jamal Khashoggi’s murder. https://t.co/iq9akq8Spy
— Ashley Parker (@AshleyRParker) July 15, 2022