- President Donald Trump bragged that he protected Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman after the assassination and dismembering of the Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018.
- “I saved his ass,” Trump had said amid the US outcry over Khashoggi’s killing, according to Bob Woodward’s new book. “I was able to get Congress to leave him alone. I was able to get them to stop.”
- The president told Woodward he didn’t believe that MBS ordered Khashoggi’s murder, though the US and other foreign intelligence services concluded that he did order the attack.
- After Khashoggi’s murder, Trump bypassed Congress to sell roughly $8 billion in arms to the Saudis and the United Arab Emirates. He vetoed a trio of resolutions blocking the sale, as well as a resolution to end US support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen.
