Washington Post publisher blasts Biden: He’s granting Saudi crown prince ‘a license to kill’

The publisher of The Washington Post is blasting President Biden over a decision by the U.S. to grant immunity to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in a lawsuit over the 2018 killing of Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

Fred Ryan, the Post’s publisher and CEO, asserted in a statement on Friday that Biden “is failing to uphold America’s most cherished values,” adding, “He is granting a license to kill to one of the world’s most egregious human rights abusers.”

“While legitimate heads of government should be protected against frivolous lawsuits, the Saudis decision to make MBS prime minister was a cynical, calculated effort to manipulate the law and shield him from accountability,” Ryan said, referring to the crown prince by his initials.

The American president is “going along with the scheme,” the Post’s publisher added, saying Biden was “turning his back on fundamental principals of press freedom and equality.”

Khashoggi, a Post journalist who resided in Virginia, was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018 and American intelligence agencies later concluded that Prince Mohammed had ordered the killing. The crown prince has denied involvement.

The U.S. State Department concluded this week that because the crown prince is now a sitting head of government of a foreign nation, he is legally immune from a lawsuit filed in 2020 by Khashoggi’s fiancee, Hatice Cengiz.

“In making this immunity determination, the Department of State takes no view on the merits of the present suit and reiterates its unequivocal condemnation of the heinous murder of Jamal Khashoggi,” the department said in a court filing.

This is not the first time Ryan has criticized Biden over his policy toward Saudi Arabia.

In July, the publisher rebuked Biden for meeting with the crown prince during a trip to the Middle East, saying the display “erodes” the United States’ “moral authority.”