Donald Trump welcomes Saudi crown prince | Global News Podcast

Welcome to the Global News podcast on. YouTube, where we go behind the. headlines of a story and why it matters. On this episode, we're discussing the. visit of the Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad. bin Salman. He's visiting Donald Trump. in Washington, and it's his mission to. reclaim his place on the world stage. after the uproar caused by the 2018. killing of Saudi journalist Jamal. Hashoji. It looks like Saudi Arabia's de. facto ruler is expected to get the pomp. and pageantry of a lavish welcome when.

he meets Donald Trump at the White House. in his first visit to the US since the. killing of the high-profile Saudi. critic. So, what might the two leaders. discuss? Well, they are expected to sign. deals on defense and civilian nuclear. power in what seems to be a sign of how. the Saudi leader has been rehabilitated. in the eyes of the Trump administration. And what about the role of Saudi Arabia. in the Middle East and how it might help. in carrying out Trump's peace plan for. Gaza? To discuss this further, I've got.

our State Department correspondent Tom. Baitman who's on the line from. Washington and Rashi Abu Alof, our Gaza. correspondent who's based in Istanbul. Tom, let's kick off with Muhammad bin. Salman and how in the eyes of Donald. Trump, he's managed to rehabilitate his. image and gain this lavish welcome to. the White House. Well, that started in. 2018 when, as you've mentioned, the uh. Saudi uh dissident and um columnist who. was based in the United States, wrote. for the Washington Post newspaper was.

murdered and his body dismembered by. Saudi agents at the Saudi consulate in. Istanbul. Um as I say, back in um 2018. Now, after that, there was global. outrage and really a sense of isolation. for Muhammad bin Salman, the crown. prince. um an intelligence assessment by. the CIA concluded that he had approved. the operation that led to Hashog's death. and although he uh always denied any. prior knowledge, he did later say that.

he took responsibility for it as the. leader of the country. Um now what then. happened over the next few years into. the uh Biden administration, you had a. president Joe Biden who campaigned on. the idea of making Saudi Arabia a pariah. over that issue but also um the supply. the US supply of weapons to Saudi Arabia. um given its role in the war in Yemen. came under increasing question a lot of. pressure from Democrats during the.

administration and in the end the Biden. administration um cut off uh offensive. weapons as they put it then to the. Saudis. The major turning point in all. of this strategically was the Russian. invasion of Ukraine because that caused. a global surge in the price of fuel. So. gas prices were going up in the US. Joe. Biden um went to Saudi Arabia in 2022. and then you saw this sort of start of a. rehabilitation of Muhammad bin Salman in. the eyes of the West. There was very.

famously or perhaps notoriously a fist. bump um between uh President Biden and. the crown prince when uh he visited. Riyad and then you saw a process really. of reintegration back into the fold of. the Americans uh and the West more. broadly and then into this second Trump. term. What has happened? I mean, one of. the big changes has been caused by the. war in Gaza and the role of the Saudis. has become absolutely critical in the. American attempts to try uh you know to.

to to get the ceasefire and a broader. stabilization of that situation. Um so. they have lent heavily on the Saudis and. then you have all the personal and. business connections between Mr. Trump. and crucially his family um and not just. the Saudis but a lot of um Gulf Arab. leaders. Um and so here I think you see. the sort of zenith of that process with. Muhammad bin Salman coming to Washington. for the first time in 7 years um in all.

but name a state visit for the deacto. ruler of Saudi Arabia. you know, visiting the White House and there will. be an announcement about the things that. the Saudi crown prince wants for Saudi. Arabia and in return uh multi-billion. dollar investments from Riyad into the. United States. >> So it is quite the turnaround then from. a Saudi perspective, from a Muhammad bin. Salman perspective as well and and you. outlined how that's happened. But I. guess now when they both sit down. together, the two leaders, what will the. objectives be as well? because there.

there are some fears as well from the. American side, particularly from some. defense officials. >> Yeah. I mean, what Muhammad bin Salman. wants uh three things broadly. He wants. a defense packed, a security deal with. the United States. It looks as though. he'll get something like that. Um which. would effectively say that the US would. uh support the Saudis militarily if the. country ever came under attack. Now, um. President Trump signed a similar. arrangement recently with Qatar. That. was after the Israelis uh attacked Doha,

you'll remember a few months back. So. the Saudis want something like that. That will be probably an executive. order. So it won't have all the backing. of a proper congressionally backed. treaty and a future president could in. effect undo that. Um but that's very. important to the Saudis. Um they also. want to buy F-35s, the most America, the. most advanced American fighter jet. Uh. the reason that's regionally important. is because the Americans have never. allowed other countries in the region.

aside from Israel to have the same level. of military hardware. Now only the. Israelis have F-35 jets in the Middle. East. So that has the potential to uh. change the the regional um balance of. military power and crucially Israel's. aerial superiority in the region. Um the. other thing that Muhammad bin Salman. wants is access to American nuclear. technology. They want to start a. civilian nuclear power program, so. nuclear energy basically for Saudi. Arabia. They say they have no intentions.

to later weaponize um that kind of a. program. But all of these things very. contentious for some of the reasons I. mentioned before, the concerns about. increased levels of arms supply um to. the Saudis. In return, um, the Saudi. leadership is touting a $600 billion. investment into the US in areas across. the economy that builds on a huge amount. of sovereign wealth investment that the. Saudis have already made into the United. States. So quite a transactional um deal.

going on, but the Americans see it as. part of their security interests to have. a increasingly strength strong. relationship with the Saudis to try and. offset Chinese influence for example in. the region. uh and crucially to build a. more secure um Middle East in their eyes. against um the threat of the Iranians. So, lots of strategic interest going on. The big thing that President Trump would. want, the big prize would be to get a. normalization of relations between Saudi.

Arabia and Israel, but that is not on. the cards at the moment, namely because. the Saudis would demand an independent. Palestinian state as a quidd proquo of. such a deal. And certainly the current. Israeli government is in no way going to. accept that. >> Okay, let's get another perspective then. from Rushi Abu Alof, our Gaza. correspondent based in Istanbul. Rushi, I guess going forward then, what sort of. a role could Saudi Arabia play when it. comes to the conversation in terms of.

carrying out the next phase of President. Trump's peace plan and then how would. this affect the region? You know, I mean, since the the. beginning of the war, I mean, the Saudis. had been supplying Gaza with a lot of. aid coming through Egypt into Gaza. They. were not they were not involved in the. like ongoing negotiation to secure the. ceasefire, but they were supporting the. effort. And we have seen the Saudis. backing the uh US resolution uh.

yesterday and even before uh during the. first stage of the ceasefire will the. Saudis were involved in making this. happening and they seems to be willing. to take part in this and people in Gaza. they believe that without the Saudis it. is going to be very hard to to rebuild. Gaza given the special relation between. the the Saudi the king and the Saudi. crown prince and the the Americans and.

we are we are going to see the crown. prince in the white house and the people. in Gaza hope that he will discuss in. details the the plan for for Gaza. >> Thanks Tom. Thanks Rushi. And you can. hear more on this story and other global. news on the global news podcast. You can. download that from wherever you get your. podcast from. And please do subscribe to. our YouTube channel and give this.

episode a like. And please do leave a. comment below. Uh you can tell us if. there are any stories you feel that we. should be covering. Thanks so much for. watching.