--- description: Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin quietly met with Saudi Arabia’s crown prince amid international outcry over the killing of Jamal Khashoggi title: Steve Mnuchin Quietly Met With the Saudi Crown Prince image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt92804ac68598c287/69893d3286f68e64b96ea792/gettyimages-1052294134.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Saudi Arabia](/tag/saudi-arabia/) ## Saudi Arabia Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin Quietly Met With the Saudi Crown Prince in Wake of Khashoggi's Killing by [Casey Quackenbush](/author/casey-quackenbush/) ## Casey Quackenbush Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 23, 2018 10:02 AM CUT  Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin listens during a meeting on Oct. 16, 2018 at the Treasury Department in Washington, DC. Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin listens during a meeting on Oct. 16, 2018 at the Treasury Department in Washington, DC.Alex Wong—Getty Images by [Casey Quackenbush](/author/casey-quackenbush/) ## Casey Quackenbush Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 23, 2018 10:02 AM CUT As international outrage over the killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi continues, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin [quietly met](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/22/world/middleeast/kushner-khashoggi-prince-mbs.html "undefined") with Saudi Arabia’s crown prince on Monday, a sign of the Trump administration’s efforts to maintain ties with the embattled Kingdom, the New York _Times_ reports. While Mnuchin canceled his attendance at an investment conference in the Saudi capital this week, he still traveled to Riyadh for a meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is widely suspected of playing a role in Khashoggi’s death. Mnuchin has not posted any pictures or statements from the meeting, but Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry [tweeted](https://twitter.com/KSAmofaEN/status/1054457549062373387 "undefined") a photo of Mnuchin and the crown prince, writing that their meeting “stresses the importance of the Saudi-US strategic partnership, where it holds an important role in the future in line with the Kingdom’s #Vision2030.”A Treasury Department spokesman said the two discussed economic ties, counterterrorism, and the investigation into Khashoggi’s death, according to the _Times._ > [](https://twitter.com/KSAmofaEN/status/1054457549062373387) Khashoggi vanished after he entered the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul on October 2 to retrieve marriage documents. After weeks of denying knowledge of Khashoggi’s whereabouts, Riyadh admitted that he had been killed in the consulate, but offered conflicting accounts as to how he died. Outcry at the shifting plot line continued to grow after Saudi state media claimed on Saturday that Khashoggi was strangled to death amid a fistfight with 15 Saudi operatives. Mnuchin’s visit may indicate that the White House is eager to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia. Despite mounting evidence implicating Mohammed bin Salman’s entourage and pressure from Republicans, President Donald Trump has been reluctant to blame the 33-year-old crown prince. Trump has also refused to freeze the [$110 billion arms deal he announced](http://time.com/5424150/trump-saudi-arabia-arms-deal/ "undefined") with Saudi Arabia, and emphasized that Khashoggi, while a resident of the U.S., was [not an American citizen](http://time.com/5427224/president-trump-saudi-arabia-khashoggi-citizen/ "undefined"). While Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister [said](http://time.com/5431677/saudi-arabia-foreign-minister-khashoggi-probe/ "undefined") Tuesday its investigation will produce the truth about what happened to Khashoggi, Turkey [promised to publicize](http://time.com/5430672/turkey-jamal-khashoggi-investigation-details/ "undefined") the facts of its own probe. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5431713/saudi-arabia-jamal-khashoggi-killing-steve-mnuchin/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5431713/saudi-arabia-jamal-khashoggi-killing-steve-mnuchin/"},"headline":"Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin Quietly Met With the Saudi Crown Prince in Wake of Khashoggi's Killing","datePublished":"2018-10-23T10:02:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T21:48:45.253Z","description":"The treasury secretary quietly met with Saudi Arabia’s crown prince amid international outcry over the killing of Jamal Khashoggi","url":"https://time.com/5431713/saudi-arabia-jamal-khashoggi-killing-steve-mnuchin/","keywords":["Saudi Arabia","onetime","overnight"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt92804ac68598c287/69893d3286f68e64b96ea792/gettyimages-1052294134.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Casey Quackenbush","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/casey-quackenbush/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt92804ac68598c287/69893d3286f68e64b96ea792/gettyimages-1052294134.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin Speaks At Meeting Of The Financial Stability Oversight Council","caption":"Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin Speaks At Meeting Of The Financial Stability Oversight Council","creditText":"Alex Wong—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/saudi-arabia/","name":"Saudi Arabia"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5431713/saudi-arabia-jamal-khashoggi-killing-steve-mnuchin/","name":"Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin Quietly Met With the Saudi Crown Prince in Wake of Khashoggi's Killing"}}]}] ```