Trump shakes Saudi Crown Prince’s hand, criticizes Biden’s fist bump

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President Donald Trump made a degree to shake the hand of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on the White Home Tuesday in a heat welcome — in distinction to former President Joe Biden , who got here below scrutiny for fist-bumping the Saudi prince in 2022.

Biden’s fist bump occurred throughout a visit to Saudi Arabia in July 2022, and attracted criticism because of U.S. intelligence reviews that indicated that bin Salman signed off on the assassination of Washington Publish journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

However when bin Salman arrived on the White Home Tuesday, Trump indicated that the Saudi prince deserved a extra formal greeting.

"And Trump would not give a fist pump. I seize that hand," Trump informed reporters Tuesday. "I do not give a hell the place that hand’s been, I seize that hand. Keep in mind Biden? He travels for 20 hours, he will get out and he offers a fist bump. No. If you get out of the airplane and you bought the long run king and the person who is among the most revered individuals on the earth, you shake his hand, you do not give him a fist bump, proper?"

President Donald Trump, proper, meets with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman within the Oval Workplace on the White Home in Washington, Nov. 18, 2025. (Nathan Howard/Politico/Bloomberg through Getty Photographs)

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"We do not need to ask you about that," Trump mentioned, referencing bin Salman. "However I am unable to think about you have been thrilled."

The Saudi chief’s arrival Tuesday got here with full pageantry. A pink carpet rolled throughout the South Garden, navy honor guard and an Air Power flyover underscored the formal state-level welcome.

Biden’s 2022 fist bump with bin Salman occurred as he stepped out of a car outdoors the Al Salam Royal Palace in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Afterward, Biden disregarded questions in regards to the interplay from reporters, however informed them he prompt to bin Salman that he believed the crown prince was "accountable" for Khashoggi’s death .

The change prompted former Washington Publish writer Fred Ryan to characterize the gesture as extra offensive than a handshake.

Folks maintain posters of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi close to the Saudi Arabia consulate in Istanbul, Oct. 2, 2020, marking the two-year anniversary of his dying. (Emrah Gurel, File/The Related Press)

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"The fist bump between President Biden and Mohammed bin Salman was worse than a handshake — it was shameful," Ryan mentioned in a press release. "It projected a stage of intimacy and luxury that delivers to MBS the unwarranted redemption he has been desperately looking for."

Greater than a 12 months later, in September 2023, Biden shook arms with bin Salman once they met in particular person on the G20 world financial summit in New Delhi.

U.S. intelligence agencies concluded in 2021 that bin Salman gave the inexperienced mild on the operation that took Khashoggi’s life. Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident, was brutally murdered in Istanbul on the Saudi consulate in 2018.

Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed in 2018. (Hasan Jamali, File/The Related Press )

Nonetheless, bin Salman has denied the veracity of these reviews. When requested Tuesday about Khashoggi, bin Salman mentioned that it’s "painful" to listen to of the dying of anybody for "no actual function," and mentioned that "we're doing our greatest that this does not occur once more."

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Trump additionally got here to defend bin Salman Tuesday, and accused a reporter who requested about U.S. intelligence reviews linking the prince to Khashoggi’s dying of embarrassing bin Salman.

"Lots of people did not like that gentleman that you just're speaking about," Trump mentioned Tuesday. "Whether or not you want him or did not like him, issues occur, however he knew nothing about it. And would you allow it at that? You do not have to embarrass our visitor by asking a query."