Even a MAGA senator was troubled by President Donald Trump’s nuclear pact with Saudi Arabia.
Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy, 74, didn’t mince words in a Sunday interview on CBS News’ Face the Nation when asked about the administration’s bizarre deal that could let Saudi Arabia enrich its nuclear fuel—all while the U.S. is bombing Iran to stop it from developing a nuclear weapon.
“Are you comfortable with it?” anchor Margaret Brennan asked.
“No. Maybe someday, but not right now,” Kennedy said flatly. “We’re bombing a country to keep them from getting a nuclear weapon. But we’re signing a deal with another country. I know it’s a commercial agreement, but the world perceives [it] as possibly someday leading to a nuclear weapon.”
Kennedy warned that the deal has put the world “on a hair trigger.”
“The world looks at what’s going on in Ukraine, the Middle East. The world looks at America’s relationship now with Europe. People are scared, that’s why I say hair trigger,” he said. “And if you’re running Japan or South Korea or Australia or Brazil or some countries in Europe, you’re at least thinking about the need to acquire a nuclear weapon.”
“And then you see this deal with Saudi Arabia, and it’s just not good timing,” Kennedy continued.l “I think someday it might be. I don’t think it’s gonna happen anyway because the president’s conditioned it on Saudi Arabia recognizing Israel and they’re not, they’re not gonna do that.”
The White House has warned that if Saudi Arabia refuses to normalize relations with Israel, it could face consequences. Saudi Arabia has historically rejected diplomatic ties with Israel without a clear pathway toward a Palestinian state.
Washington and Riyadh have been at odds over the matter since 2008. The U.S. has repeatedly urged Saudi Arabia to buy its nuclear fuel in the open market rather than enriching uranium in its own territory. The Biden administration also added provisions requiring the kingdom to normalize relations with Israel. But Trump’s deal appears to have dropped both demands without securing any concessions for the U.S. in exchange.
Even Fox News host Brian Kilmeade was unimpressed with the pact.
“I love the progress Saudi Arabia has made. But I don’t see our benefit to letting them enrich. I think it’s a bad trend,” he said last week.
“My feeling is, why don’t we just do what UAE did? It’s worked,” the Fox host added. “Saudi Arabia doesn’t want a nuclear weapon. They said, ‘We’ll only get it if Iran gets it.’ So maybe they only get that ability if Iran gets a nuclear weapon. And maybe that helps other people step in and say, ‘We don’t want Iran to have a nuclear weapon.’”
