Biden says he confronted Saudi Prince Salman over Khashoggi murder

US President Joe Biden said on Friday he told Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman he held him responsible for the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, shortly after exchanging a fist bump with the kingdom’s de facto ruler.

On a trip to reset relations with a country he had called a pariah after Khashoggi’s killing in 2018, Biden said the crown prince, known as MbS, denied involvement in the murder and said he had held those responsible to account.

“With respect to the murder of Khashoggi, I raised it at the top of the meeting, making it clear what I thought of it at the time and what I think about it now,” Biden told reporters.

“I was straight forward and direct in discussing it. I made my view crystal clear. I said very straightforwardly, for an American president to be silent on an issue of human rights is inconsistent with who we are and who I am.”

US intelligence says the crown prince approved an operation to capture or kill Khashoggi, a Saudi insider-turned-critic, who was murdered and dismembered by Saudi agents inside the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul. Biden said what happened to Khashoggi was outrageous.

“He basically said that he was not personally responsible for it,” Biden said of the crown prince’s response during their meeting. “I indicated that I thought he was.”

The president said they also discussed energy and that he expected to see action from Saudi Arabia, a major oil producer, on energy in the coming weeks.

As a presidential candidate, Biden had said the kingdom should be made a “pariah” on the world stage because of Khashoggi’s murder. He said on Friday he did not regret that comment.

With the body language being watched closely, at the start of Biden’s Middle East trip officials had said he would avoid close contact, such as shaking hands, as a precaution against COVID-19. But the president ended up engaging in hand-shaking during the Israel leg of the tour, too.

Biden’s interaction with the crown prince drew immediate criticism at home – including from The Washington Post and the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Khashoggi had been living in self-imposed exile in Virginia. The late journalist’s fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, posted a photo of the fist bump on Twitter and said Khashoggi would have written: “Is this the accountability you promised for my murder? The blood of MBS’s next victims is on your hands.”

Biden told reporters in Jeddah he was sorry she felt that way.

US reporters shouted questions about Khashoggi at the crown prince at the beginning of the meeting. “Will you apologise to his family?” one called out. MbS, with the Saudi energy minister seated beside him, did not respond and appeared to smile slightly as the reporters were led from the room.