By Patricia Zengerle and Simon Lewis
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met with members of Congress at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, on the second day of a visit to Washington that has aimed to tout stronger-than-ever economic and security ties while brushing off scrutiny of his human rights record.
President Donald Trump gave bin Salman a lavish welcome at the White House on Tuesday and defended him over the 2018 killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents, which U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded the crown prince approved.
A few Republican members of Congress, including House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast, attended a black-tie gala dinner at the White House for bin Salman on Tuesday.
Bin Salman was considered an outcast by Washington in the aftermath of Khashoggi’s death, but his rehabilitation was rubber-stamped this week.
FORMER CRITIC RUBIO SAT NEAR CROWN PRINCE
In one example, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who as a Republican senator in 2019 said the crown prince had gone “full gangster,” sat near him during Tuesday’s Oval Office meeting. Trump repeatedly said it was “an honor” to be friends with the Saudi leader, and the two men held hands.
This was in sharp contrast to Washington’s view of bin Salman during Trump’s first term, when lawmakers became angry with Riyadh’s role in the civil war in Yemen and human rights record, fueled by Khashoggi’s murder at a Saudi consulate in Turkey.
“He is reckless, he’s ruthless, he has a penchant for escalation, for taking high risks, confrontational in his foreign policy approach and I think increasingly willing to test the limits of what he can get away with the United States,” Rubio said at the time. There were multiple and persistent calls from Congress for accountability.
The crown prince has denied ordering the operation but acknowledged responsibility as Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler.
SUBDUED RECEPTION
Although memories of that time may have faded, bin Salman’s reception on Capitol Hill was more subdued than welcomes given other world leaders.
The crown prince went to a reception hosted by Johnson and attended by some Democrats as well as some of Trump’s fellow Republicans. The event was not announced and the speaker’s office did not respond to a request for comment. No similar meeting was held in the Senate.
Neither Johnson nor Republican Senate Leader John Thune had the type of press opportunity, with photos or remarks, often held when world leaders visit the Capitol.
Leaving the hour-long session with bin Salman, Mast said it had been a “fantastic” meeting that covered topics from Saudi Arabia’s future internally, to Israel and Gaza, technology transfers, and efforts to thwart Chinese espionage.
“We covered just a lot of ground and covered a lot of ground with his royal highness at the White House last night as well,” Mast told Reuters.
Later on Wednesday, Risch and Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, met with bin Salman outside the Capitol complex.
Several lawmakers harshly criticized bin Salman and Trump’s comment on Khashoggi’s death that, “Things happened.”
Democratic Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, the state where Khashoggi lived, asked for unanimous consent late on Wednesday to pass legislation commemorating the seventh anniversary of Khashoggi’s death.
“Standing with this regime with no accountability for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi is not America first, it’s not consistent with our values as a world-leading democracy,” Kaine said.
Risch blocked Kaine’s effort, saying the resolution would do nothing to achieve accountability and noting Saudi Arabia’s status as a U.S. partner. “The U.S. needs stable and invested security partners in the Middle East,” Risch said.
Bin Salman agreed in the meeting with Trump to increase the kingdom’s planned investments in the U.S. to $1 trillion from $600 billion. He also attended an investment conferenceincluding CEOs from major U.S. companies. The two sides also announced new agreements on arms sales, civil nuclear cooperation and artificial intelligence.
Representative Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Foreign Affairs Committee Democrat, attended the House reception. Afterward, he called on the Trump administration to brief Congress on the agreements and questioned whether Trump’s family businesses would benefit.
Trump on Tuesday vehemently denied any conflict of interest with his family’s Saudi investment interests.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Simon LewisAdditional reporting by Nandita BoseEditing by Humeyra Pamuk, Lincoln Feast, Frances Kerry, Rod Nickel)
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