As Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s younger brother meets with officials in Washington this week, two lawmakers are pressing the Biden administration to explain whether he was included on its list of Saudis banned from entering the United States over the targeting of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and other dissidents.
Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman is the highest-profile Saudi to visit the nation’s capital since the Biden administration released a long-awaited intelligence report which assessed that the powerful crown prince approved the October 2018 operation that killed Khashoggi. The Saudi government maintains he was killed in a rogue operation and that the crown prince had no involvement.
Prince Khalid, who last visited Washington in July 2021, will co-chair the US-Saudi Arabia Strategic Joint Planning Committee at the Pentagon this week. On Tuesday, he met with White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
“We seek to understand the rationale for Prince Khalid’s multiple visits and whether the Department of State reviewed allegations regarding his alleged role in targeting Saudi dissidents, consistent with the administration’s Khashoggi Visa Ban,” read a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken from Reps. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Penn.).
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