Democrat President Joe Biden laughed on Friday when he was pressed during a press conference about him fist-bumping Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman after Biden previously said that he wanted to treat Saudi Arabia as a “pariah” state.
Biden said in 2019 that he wanted to “make [Saudi Arabia] pay the price and make them, in fact, the pariah that they are” after U.S. intelligence said in report that they assessed that MBS “approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey to capture or kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.”
“You’re coming under a lot of fire for your fist bump with the crown prince,” a reporter said to Biden at a press conference.
Biden immediately started laughing.
“I just want to give you a chance to respond to that,” the reporter continued, “but also how can you be sure that another incident, another murder like Jamal Khashoggi, won’t happen again?”
“God love you. What a silly question,” Biden answered. “How could I possibly be sure of any of that?”
"You're coming under a lot of fire for your fist bump with the [Saudi] crown prince."
BIDEN: *laughs*
"How can you be sure that another murder…won't happen again?"
BIDEN: "What a silly question." pic.twitter.com/UqlmMDvFqG
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 15, 2022
A different reporter asked about a tweet from Khashoggi’s fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, in which she shared a mock up tweet of what Jamal would say if he was still alive.
“What Jamal Khashoggi would tweet today,” Cengiz wrote in a tweet that featured a screenshot of the mockup tweet, which stated: “Hey @POTUS, Is this the accountability you promised for my murder? The blood of MBS’s next victim is on your hands.”
What Jamal Khashoggi would tweet today: pic.twitter.com/Gv4Up7TLgd
— Hatice Cengiz / خديجة (@mercan_resifi) July 15, 2022
“I’m sorry she feels that way,” Biden said in responded to the tweet.
“I was straightforward back then, I was straightforward today,” Biden claimed. “This is a meeting, what I, I didn’t come here to meet the crown prince. I came here to meet the GCC, the nine nations, to deal with the security and the needs of the free world, particularly the United States, and not leave a vacuum here, which was happening as it has in other parts of the world.”
BREAKING: On tweet from Jamal Khashoggi's fiancée criticizing him over first bump with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Pres. Biden says, "I'm sorry she feels that way. I was straightforward back then, I was straightforward today." https://t.co/BBMNDjLc7W pic.twitter.com/Vg6e3GPxo2
— ABC News (@ABC) July 15, 2022
The Washington Post slammed Biden Friday afternoon for the fist bump, calling it “shameful.”
“The fist bump between President Biden and Mohammed bin Salman was worse than a handshake– it was shameful,” The Washington Post Publisher and CEO Fred Ryan said in a statement. “It projected a level of intimacy and comfort that delivers to MBS the unwarranted redemption he has been desperately seeking.”