Biden raised Khashoggi murder with Saudi crown prince

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 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.

Biden not only highlighted the progress in moving relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel towards normalization and said the US and Saudi Arabia agreed to partner on a "far-reaching" green energy initiative. 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. Notably, he also expressed optimism that Saudi Arabia would take steps to boost the global oil supply in the coming weeks, which had been viewed as a major goal of the trip given high domestic gas prices globally due to the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Energy and security interests prompted Biden and his aides to decide not to isolate the Gulf oil giant, which has been strengthening ties with Russia and China, despite the president's disgust over the killing. Biden wants to "recalibrate" Washington's relations with Saudi Arabia and not rupture them, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said.