President Donald Trump welcomed Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman with a military flyover and the world’s biggest soccer star during the crown prince’s first U.S. visit since the killing of Washington Post reporter Jamal Khashoggi.
The arrival ceremony was heavy on fanfare, including cannons, a military aircraft flyover, and U.S. and Saudi flags draped on buildings, CBS News reported.
Afterward Trump, 79, and Bin Salman, 40, will meet in the Oval Office to discuss mutual investment and security deals. Soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo, who has become the face of the Saudi Pro League, also plans to join them, sources told The New York Times.
That night Trump will host a black-tie dinner for bin Salman with 120 invited guests, though it’s not technically a state dinner, according to CBS. It is, however, the first formal dinner Trump has thrown for a world leader since taking office again.
Tuesday will also mark the first time the Saudi crown prince has returned to the U.S. since members of his government murdered Khashoggi, a journalist and human rights advocate, in a Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018.
A CIA assessment concluded that bin Salman had personally ordered the killing.
In 2019, the crown prince said during a 60 Minutes interview that he took “full responsibility” for the killing, since it was committed by people working for the Saudi government, but that he did not order it.
Trump has never punished bin Salman for Khashoggi’s death, choosing to sanction more than a dozen Saudi nationals instead.
The president has called Saudi Arabia a “great ally,” and he and his son-in-law Jared Kushner have fostered close ties with the kingdom.
The president was warmly received in Saudi Arabia during a trip to the Middle East in May.
A senior administration official told CBS that Trump will be making announcements during bin Salman’s visit about Saudi investment in U.S. artificial intelligence infrastructure, enhanced cooperation on civil nuclear energy, defense sales, and a Saudi investment pledge.
On Monday, Trump revealed the U.S. planned to sell F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia.
“We’re more than meeting,” he said last week of the visit. “We’re honoring Saudi Arabia.”
