The reaction in Washington was swift and condemnatory.
Republicans and Democrats in Congress called the response insufficient and urged the Biden administration to directly punish the crown prince. Human rights groups pushed for a broader freeze on weapons to Saudi Arabia until the crown prince faces justice. A torrent of criticisms came in from prominent columnists and editorial boards, including The Washington Post, for which Khashoggi wrote columns, which said Biden granted “what amounts to a pass to a ruler who has sown instability around the Middle East.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki was asked Monday about Biden’s reaction to criticisms that he had “choked” at imposing sanctions on Mohammed, the country’s de facto leader.
“I don’t think anyone runs for president or is elected if they have a thin skin,” she said. “I think he fully expected there might be some criticism.”
But Biden’s role, she noted, “is to act in the national interest of the United States. And that’s exactly what he’s doing.”
The situation, she said, was “complicated.”
For senior Biden administration officials, discontent over the administration’s actions was perhaps inevitable but hasn’t always taken into account how rapidly the U.S. posture with the monarchy has changed since Biden’s inauguration, said several U.S. officials, some of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
Release of the report marks the end of a long process that began when Khashoggi, lured to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul to pick up documents, was drugged and dismembered by Saudi agents. His remains have never been found. The fact that he had published columns critical of the crown prince cemented concerns in Washington that Mohammed’s authoritarian instincts needed to be reined in and the U.S.-Saudi relationship overhauled.
Biden’s foreign policy advisers agonized over the decision for weeks, officials said. They were eager to differentiate their boss from President Donald Trump, who treated the kingdom and its ambitious heir apparent with kid gloves and circumvented congressional efforts to punish the kingdom for its ruthless war in Yemen and treatment of perceived enemies at home and abroad.
Defining the Saudis as bad actors was one of the few issues on which there was bipartisan agreement among a majority of U.S. lawmakers.
A team formed under the new administration weeks ago, including senior representatives of the National Security Council and the departments of State, Treasury and Defense, to look at what action to take.
The first part, an announced “recalibration” of relations with the Saudis, was relatively easy. As they filled in the blanks of what that would mean over the first few weeks, they communicated their intentions to the kingdom.
Trump-approved offensive weapons sales to prosecute the war against Houthi rebels in Yemen were canceled, and all other Saudi purchases in the pipeline were placed under review. A special administration envoy — Tim Lenderking, whose previous assignment had been as the senior State Department official managing the relationship with the Saudis — was named to help bring the Yemen war to an end. The Saudis were warned that they were expected to cooperate.
Statements were made criticizing the country’s imprisonment of dissidents — especially women — and Saudi American citizens. Most shocking to the monarchy, it was made clear until mid-February that no congratulatory call would be accepted from King Salman, and certainly not from Mohammed. Instead of a call from Biden, the crown prince — who also serves as the country’s defense minister — received a call from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
The former deputy head of Saudi intelligence, Ahmed Asiri, would be designated for sanctions and asset freezes by Treasury, along with members of a special intelligence unit, the Rapid Intervention Force, answerable directly to Mohammed. They were…
Read More: Inside the Biden team’s deliberations over punishing the Saudi crown prince