President Joe Biden is doing an abrupt policy about-face and will meet next month with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman after years of denouncing the country’s human rights record.
What Happened: The Wall Street Journal reported that Biden has been a longtime critic of the Saudi government’s approach to human rights, particularly in regard to the 2018 murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. A U.S. intelligence assessment released last year by the Biden administration concluded Prince Mohammed approved of the operation to kill Khashoggi, which the prince has vehemently denied.
