Biden defends lack of sanctions against Saudi prince for Jamal Khashoggi murder
President Biden on Tuesday defended his administration’s decision not to directly sanction Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, saying such an action would be unprecedented.
The U.S. government released an intelligence report in late February officially accusing bin Salman of ordering the assassination of the Washington Post journalist, an American resident whose grisly death drew international and bipartisan outrage.
“I’m the guy that released the report,” Biden told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos on Tuesday.
He emphasized the sanctions slapped on other top Saudi officials linked to the 2018 killing, and noted that he hit the country’s government with a list of demands — including stopping the war in Yemen. But direct sanctions on the country’s de facto leader would have gone against history, said Biden.
“We held accountable all the people in that organization — but not the crown prince, because we have never that I’m aware of, when we have an alliance with a country, gone to the acting head of state and punished that person,” Biden told Stephanopoulos.
Khashoggi, who was openly critical of bin Salman, was killed by assassins after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to obtain marriage documents. His body was dismembered with a bone saw and the remains were never found.
The U.S. has a sensitive geopolitical alliance with the Saudi government, but the inaction has generated widespread criticism on humanitarian grounds.
During his presidential campaign, Biden said he wanted to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah” state and said its government lacked “redeeming social value.”
Khashoggi’s fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, said earlier this month that the report was a “huge and important step” but that people “in power need to take action.”
