FOREIGN FAVORS

Trump Says He Shielded Mohammed bin Salman From Fallout Over Jamal Khashoggi’s Murder: ‘I Saved His Ass’

In the aftermath of the journalist’s assassination, Trump stopped Congress from censuring Saudi Arabia.

President Donald Trump bragged about protecting Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman from fallout over the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to Bob Woodward’s new book Rage. Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post on Middle Eastern affairs, was dismembered with a bone saw in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in late 2018, a murder the U.S. intelligence community believes Saudi agents carried out on the orders of bin Salman. In the aftermath, Congress passed a resolution to block an $8 billion arms sale to the kingdom, but Trump vetoed it. Trump likewise stopped a resolution that would have rescinded U.S. support for a coalition in Yemen led by Saudi Arabia. Trump told Woodward, “I was able to get Congress to leave him alone. I was able to get them to stop.” Trump also said he did not believe bin Salman orchestrated the murder, despite the findings of Trump’s own intelligence officers.