(Breitbart) President Joe Biden on Thursday shied away from a commitment to bring up the murder of writer Jamal Khashoggi with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during his trip to Saudi Arabia.
A reporter asked Biden during a press conference in Israel with Prime Minister Yair Lapid if he would address Khashoggi’s murder with the crown prince.
“My views on Khashoggi have been absolutely positively clear, and I have never been quiet about talking about human rights,” Biden replied, dodging an answer to the question.
He explained the reason he planned to visit Saudi Arabia was to promote U.S. interests and reassert American influence in the Middle East.
When asked again if he would bring up Khashoggi, Biden replied with a similar dodge.
“I always bring up human rights. I always bring up human rights,” he asserted. “But my position on Khashoggi has been so clear, if anyone doesn’t understand it in Saudi Arabia or anywhere else, then they haven’t been around for a while.”
Biden has largely abandoned his promises during the 2020 presidential campaign to punish the Saudis for their involvement in Khashoggi’s murder.
“Khashoggi was, in fact, murdered and dismembered, and I believe on the order of the crown prince,” Biden said during a debate in November 2019.
