President Joe Biden appears to have ignored a request from the widow of murdered Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi to meet with her before his trip to Saudi Arabia.
Khashoggi’s widow Hanan Elatr published a letter to the president in June requesting a meeting, but the White House has not fulfilled her request.
Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters Monday that although the White House had been in contact with members of Khashoggi’s family, the president had not.
“The president has not himself spoken with them, but he has been focused on this issue from the beginning,” Sullivan said.
All eyes are on Biden as he prepares to travel to Saudi Arabia and meet with Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman even after promising during his presidential campaign to treat them as a “pariah state.”
The president leaves for his trip to the Middle East on Tuesday.
The White House provided the Washington Post an op-ed with the president’s byline defending his trip, as Breitbart News reported.
“I know that there are many who disagree with my decision to travel to Saudi Arabia,” he acknowledged, vowing to make his views on human rights “clear and long-standing.”
Biden wrote he viewed the relationship with Saudi Arabia as important to the future of the region and America’s interests.
A demonstrator dressed as Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (C) with blood on his hands protests outside the Saudi Embassy in Washington, DC, on October 8, 2018, demanding justice for missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. (JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)
“From the start, my aim was to reorient — but not rupture — relations with a country that’s been a strategic partner for 80 years,” he wrote.
Sullivan indicated that Biden would speak to the Saudis about increasing oil production, despite Biden’s assertion in June that he would not ask them directly.
“No, I’m not going to ask them,” Biden replied when asked by reporters if he would ask Saudi leaders to increase oil production.
Sullivan appeared to pivot slightly on Biden’s denial.
“The president believes that the price of gas is too high and that we need to do more with respect to global energy supplies,” he said. “And he will take every step in his power both here at home and in terms of his diplomatic engagement in the world to try to bring that about.”
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.