MSNBC host Ayman Mohyeldin told Hill.TV on Thursday the Biden administration’s response to a report linking Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi was “a dose of pragmatism and realism.”
“You know, I think it’s a dose of pragmatism and realism and it certainly this — it happens time and time again, certainly in the Middle East, which is American values come up against American interests,” Mohyeldin said on “Rising.” “When you look at American interests and values, they tend to always contradict each other sometimes in places like Saudi Arabia and certainly the Middle East at large.”
As Mohyeldin put it, President Biden assumed office with the knowledge that U.S.-Saudi relations could not be compromised due to the importance of arms sales, energy markets and counterterrorism efforts in the region.
“That reality sits in on the president to say, you know look, we are not going to be able to sever ties with Saudi Arabia and we’re not gonna be able to, you know, have any kind of punitive measures against the crown prince who is the de facto ruler of the country in a way that could undermine Saudi Arabia pivoting away from the United States,” Mohyeldin said.
Biden announced a round of punitive actions against Saudi Arabia after the report was released but notably held back on issuing any actions against the crown prince.
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