Name: Fallout from Trumps praise Saudi crown princes human rights record
Uploaded: 2025-11-20T00:35:41.703Z
Duration: 2 min 27 s
Description: President Trump showed off his close relationship with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman this week. CBS News White House reporter Aaron Navarro has more.

President Trump showed off his close relationship with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman this week. CBS News White House reporter Aaron Navarro has more.

Washington

President Trump recently hosted Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the White House and praised the crown prince's human rights record, despite ongoing concerns from the U.S. State Department about abuses in Saudi Arabia. The president's remarks, especially regarding the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, have led to significant fallout.

Khashoggi's widow expressed devastation over Trump's comments, while congressional Democrats raised concerns about the sale of F-35 jets to Saudi Arabia, citing national security risks. Trump also indicated he will sign the Epstein Files bill, though the timing and manner of the signing remain unclear.

Fallout from Trump's praise Saudi crown prince's human rights record

President Trump is showing off his close relationship with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Last night, he hosted a dinner for the Crown Prince at the White House. Top administration officials and some major tech CEOs were in attendance, including Elon Musk. Today, they both attended a U.S.-Saudi investment forum, where the president highlighted the strategic and business relationship between the two countries. The partnership between our two nations is among the most consequential in the entire world, and together, the Crown Prince and I are making an alliance stronger and more powerful than it's ever been before. CBS News White House reporter Aaron Navarro joins us now. Aaron, President Trump praised the Crown Prince and said his record on human rights is good, despite the State Department's list of concerns about human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia. That was very notable from yesterday's Oval Office meeting. What kind of fallout have you been seeing from yesterday's cozy display? Lindsay, good evening. The fallout has mainly been centered around President Trump's comments in the Oval Office yesterday surrounding the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which U.S. intelligence has found repeatedly that the Saudi Crown Prince had ordered. But President Trump said yesterday in the Oval Office that Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince, quote, knew nothing about it. At one point, President Trump said, quote, a lot of people didn't like that gentleman, in reference to Khashoggi. In terms of reaction, we saw the widow of Khashoggi tell CBS News yesterday in an interview that she was devastated by President Trump's remarks and that disagreement with her late husband does not justify kidnapping and killing him. In addition to Khashoggi, you've also seen statements from congressional Democrats in the House and Senate raise national security concerns about Trump's sale of F-35 jets to Saudi Arabia, warning that that sale exposes high advanced military technology from America to China, which has had a growing relationship with Saudi Arabia. Has President Trump indicated if or when he'll sign the Epstein Files bill? He's indicated he will at least sign it. As he said over the weekend that he pushed for House Republicans to pass this bill forward. We have not gotten any guidance yet from the White House on when that will happen, if it will be in public in some sort of ceremony or if it will be behind closed doors. We do know that once he signs that, that a 30-day window for Attorney General Pambani to release what they can from the investigation will begin. Erin Navarro, thank you.

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