President Trump is hosting the Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia at the White House today for several events, including a bilateral meeting.
During the meeting, the leaders are set to discuss defense partnerships and artificial intelligence investments.
Per the New York Times:
The visit represents a striking diplomatic turnabout for the crown prince, who had not been on U.S. soil since 2018, the same year that Saudi agents killed and dismembered a Washington Post columnist, Jamal Khashoggi, in Istanbul. During the Biden administration, U.S. intelligence officials released a report determining that the crown prince had ordered Mr. Khashoggi’s killing, but the White House declined to take direct action against him.
Prince Mohammed has denied involvement, and Mr. Trump has treated him not as a pariah but as a business partner. Before the visit, a host of other U.S.-Saudi agreements were in process, including one on artificial intelligence, a mutual defense pact and an agreement that would eventually offer Saudi Arabia access to the United States’ nuclear technology.
On his end, Mr. Trump is prepared to promote the details of an earlier promise by the kingdom to invest some $600 billion in the United States, an agreement the White House announced when the president visited Riyadh, the Saudi capital, in May.
The two leaders are prepared to sign deals related to bolstering Saudi Arabia’s artificial intelligence industry by investing in American technology, as well as move forward with an agreement to proceed with plans that would eventually allow the Saudis to develop nuclear power, potentially paving the way for allowing the kingdom to enrich uranium.
This comes after President Trump confirmed to reporters on Monday that he plans to sell Saudi Arabia F-35s.
“They’ve been a great ally,” Trump said during an Oval Office press conference.
“We will be doing that. We’ll be selling F-35s.”
WATCH:
The meeting is scheduled to begin at 11:45 ET.
Watch live below:
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