On November 19, 2025, the White House once again became the stage for a high-stakes diplomatic meeting with global reverberations. President Donald Trump welcomed Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (often referred to as MBS), for talks that, on the surface, aimed to solidify the U.S.-Saudi partnership in a turbulent Middle East. Yet, as the week unfolded, the event drew as much scrutiny for its optics and the president’s public statements as for any policy outcomes.
According to The New York Times, President Trump’s reception of Crown Prince Mohammed was marked not by the tough questions or guarded skepticism that often accompany meetings with controversial leaders, but by a tone of near absolution. Trump not only embraced MBS’s denials regarding the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi—a killing that the CIA and United Nations investigators have concluded the crown prince likely ordered—but also lashed out at members of the American press who dared to press the issue. When ABC News correspondent Mary Bruce asked about both Trump family business dealings in Saudi Arabia and MBS’s alleged role in Khashoggi’s murder, the president dismissed her, calling her “a terrible person.” In a separate exchange, he told another female reporter, “Quiet, piggy.”
Such behavior, the NYTimes editorial board argued, was alarming for several reasons. First, it signaled a disregard for the truth, undermining the work of U.S. intelligence agencies and independent investigators who had painstakingly pieced together evidence implicating the crown prince. Second, it amounted to a whitewashing of a brutal human rights violation—Khashoggi’s murder by strangulation, followed by dismemberment and disposal of his body inside a Saudi consulate in Turkey. Third, it revealed a deep disdain for the principles of press freedom enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. Traditionally, foreign leaders visiting the White House expect to face difficult questions from the media—a tradition that Trump appeared eager to upend.
But the controversy didn’t end with the president’s handling of the Khashoggi case. During the same week, Trump claimed that his family had done “very little” business with Saudi Arabia. This assertion, however, did not stand up to scrutiny. As reported by NPR, Dan Alexander, senior editor at Forbes and author of "White House, Inc.: How Donald Trump Turned The Presidency Into A Business," flatly contradicted Trump’s statement. "No, it’s not true," Alexander said, explaining that The Trump Organization’s business interests in Saudi Arabia are both substantial and growing.
One of the most significant ties comes through the real estate licensing arm of Trump’s business empire. In 2024 and 2025, a Saudi firm called DarGlobal paid The Trump Organization about $21 million each year to license the Trump name for developments. More deals are rumored to be in the pipeline, suggesting that the relationship is far from “very little.”
Then there’s the golf business. After the events of January 6, 2021, The Trump Organization’s golf properties found themselves shunned by the PGA Tour and The Royal and Ancient, which oversees the British Open. Enter LIV Golf, the upstart tour backed by the Saudi government, which began holding tournaments at Trump properties. Seven such events have already taken place, with an eighth on the horizon. As Alexander told NPR, "That provides some cash for The Trump Organization, but more importantly provides relevance for that part of the business."
These financial entanglements have raised uncomfortable questions about where Trump’s loyalties lie. As Alexander put it, "If you look at the set of facts, it’s hard to argue that it hasn’t" benefited from his political relationship with Saudi Arabia. Before entering politics, Trump’s business struggled to secure deals worth even a few million dollars in various countries. Now, tens of millions are flowing in from Saudi Arabia—at a time when the kingdom’s leadership sees the Trump administration as pivotal to its own ambitions in the Middle East.
The intertwining of politics and business is not limited to Trump himself. Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and former White House advisor, has taken $2 billion into his private equity fund from the Saudi government. Kushner argues that these overlapping business and government relationships can be beneficial, offering backchannels for diplomacy on issues like peace in Gaza. But, as Alexander pointed out, "there are plenty of people in the ethics community who would say, wait a second. All that means is we don’t know where your alliances are and what motivations are driving you." It’s a dilemma: is this about money for the American public, or money for the Trump family?
Meanwhile, the broader U.S.-Saudi relationship remains a study in contradictions. As The New York Times editorial board noted, Saudi Arabia is both a crucial partner for the United States—helping to counter Iran and stabilize the region—and a country with a deeply troubling human rights record. Under MBS, the kingdom has seen some modernization: women’s rights have expanded, religious hard-liners have been curbed, and the economy has diversified. Yet, these reforms coexist with severe authoritarianism. The crown prince has overseen a sharp increase in executions, often for low-level drug offenses, and regularly jails critics.
For many American observers, the question is not whether the U.S. should engage with imperfect partners—realpolitik demands it—but whether the U.S. should excuse or even enable their abuses. The NYTimes editorial board argued forcefully that the answer must be no: "The appropriate role for the United States is to make him uncomfortable about his abuses and push Saudi Arabia toward a freer future." Instead, Trump’s approach seemed to offer absolution rather than accountability.
As the dust settled on the crown prince’s visit, the short-term winners appeared to be both Saudi Arabia and the U.S.—at least in terms of business deals and diplomatic visibility. As Alexander told NPR, "Saudi Arabia sort of regains its prominence after losing much of the world following the killing of Jamal Khashoggi. The U.S. gets a ton of money." But the longer-term questions—about ethics, influence, and the true beneficiaries of these relationships—remain unresolved. As Saudi Arabia deepens its ties not only with America but also with China, the stakes for U.S. policy and global security only grow more complex.
At the heart of this story is a tension that has long defined American foreign policy: the balance between strategic interests and moral values. The Trump administration’s handling of the Khashoggi affair, its business entanglements with Saudi Arabia, and its treatment of the press all reflect choices that will shape the U.S.-Saudi relationship for years to come. The world is watching—and so, too, are the American people.
