Trump's week in review: From the Epstein Files release to his meeting with Mamdani

2. Trump meets with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, blasts reporter for question about Khashoggi murder  

Trump welcomed Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the White House for a bilateral meeting Tuesday. The two leaders discussed Saudi Arabia’s plans to invest nearly $1 trillion in the U.S. as well as the U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia and its implications for foreign policy.

Trump responded to a question from ABC’s Mary Bruce, directed at Salman, asking why Americans should trust him, in addition to noting that “the U.S. intelligence concluded that you orchestrated the brutal murder of a journalist” and that “9/11 families are furious that you are here in the Oval Office.” The president defended Salman for doing a “phenomenal job” before addressing her concerns about Saudi Arabia’s role in the murder of Saudi-born journalist Jamal Khashoggi. 

“You’re mentioning somebody that was extremely controversial,” Trump replied. “A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about. Whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen, but he knew nothing about it, and we can leave it at that. You don’t have to embarrass our guest by asking a question like that.”

The murder of Khashoggi, who wrote for The Washington Post and was a prominent critic of the Saudi government, made headlines in 2018. According to Turkish officials, Saudi operatives beat, drugged, killed and dismembered Khashoggi at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. The New York Times reported that the perpetrators of the murder had direct ties to Salman. 

Salman has repeatedly maintained his innocence, dating back to 2018, when he called Khashoggi’s death a “terrible mistake.” Later in Tuesday’s press conference with Salman, Trump called Bruce a “terrible reporter” after she asked him another question, circling back to what he described as her “horrible, insubordinate and just a terrible question” about Khashoggi’s murder.