President Biden teased an announcement on Saudi Arabia on Saturday after the release of an official report accusing Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of ordering the operation to kill Jamal Khashoggi.
Biden told reporters on the White House lawn, “There will be an announcement on Monday about what we are going to do with Saudi Arabia in general.”
Biden responded to a question from The Post whether he would punish the 35-year-old crown prince, who is the de facto ruler of the oil-rich kingdom.
A report released Friday by US officials says the prince, commonly known by his initials MBS, ordered the 2018 hit on Khashoggi.
Biden spoke with the prince’s father, 85-year-old King Salman, on Thursday before the damning report was released.
On Friday, the Biden government announced sanctions against dozens of Saudis identified as involved in Khashoggi’s murder, but none against the Crown Prince.
Khashoggi was a Virginia native and columnist for the Washington Post when he was murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
According to Turkish authorities, Khashoggi was strangled and dismembered with a bone saw.
Former President Donald Trump argued that the US-Saudi strategic alliance was too important to risk by punishing Saudi Arabia for Khashoggi’s death, which occurred as the crown prince consolidated power.
But some advocates say the US should use its influence to force the prince’s resignation.
Saudi courts have sentenced to death five people allegedly involved in Khashoggi’s death, but those sentences were later commuted to 20 years in prison. Saudi Arabia’s legal system has not prosecuted the crown prince.
Biden has already shifted the relationship between the US and Saudi, including through US support for the long-stalled Saudi military campaign to reinstate Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, which was ousted in 2015 by an Iran-allied militia still becoming most of the country’s population controls areas.