--- title: Trump Talks to Saudi Prince Despite Uproar Over Khashoggi description: President Trump spoke by phone with the crown prince, even as U.S. lawmakers hold the ruler responsible for the killing of Jamal Khashoggi canonical: https://time.com/5567185/donald-trump-phone-call-mohammed-bin-salman-khashoggi/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-04-10T02:24:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:52:51.491Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Talks to Saudi Prince Despite Uproar Over Khashoggi og:description: The call came a day after 16 Saudis were barred from the U.S. for the murder og:url: https://time.com/5567185/donald-trump-phone-call-mohammed-bin-salman-khashoggi/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd9f8c1f8983686a1/698947fb929fad67f9bf302c/donald-trump-mohammed-bin-salman.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: donald-trump-mohammed-bin-salman og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Talks to Saudi Prince Despite Uproar Over Khashoggi twitter:description: The call came a day after 16 Saudis were barred from the U.S. for the murder twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd9f8c1f8983686a1/698947fb929fad67f9bf302c/donald-trump-mohammed-bin-salman.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump Talks to the Saudi Crown Prince Despite Uproar Over Jamal Khashoggi's Killing > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: TIME Person of the Year: The Guardians and the War on Truth [Watch (HLS stream): TIME Person of the Year: The Guardians and the War on Truth](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ynSDAmcj.m3u8) (5:16)  _Published 2018-12-11. TIME Person of the Year: The Guardians and the War on Truth_ by [John Harney / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## John Harney / Bloomberg Contributor Apr 10, 2019 2:24 AM UTC  President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman shake hands before lunch at the White House in Washington, DC, on March 14, 2017. President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman shake hands before lunch at the White House in Washington, DC, on March 14, 2017. Nicholas Kamm—AFP/Getty Images by [John Harney / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## John Harney / Bloomberg Contributor Apr 10, 2019 2:24 AM UTC President Donald Trump spoke by telephone with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, even as U.S. lawmakers, including some in his party, hold the ruler responsible for the killing of the columnist Jamal Khashoggi last fall and have demanded tougher penalties against the kingdom. Trump “had a productive conversation” with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the White House said in a statement on Tuesday night. “They discussed Saudi Arabia’s critical role in ensuring Middle East stability, maintaining maximum pressure against Iran, and the importance of human rights issues.” The White House offered no additional details on the call. Trump has been eager to prevent Khashoggi’s killing from complicating or weakening U.S. ties to the kingdom, around which the administration has built much of its Middle East strategy. The phone call came just a day after the U.S. State Department said it would deny entry to 16 Saudis “over their roles” in Khashoggi’s murder at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. The list included Saud al-Qahtani, a senior adviser to the crown prince who had already been sanctioned over the killing. Questions have centered on whether the crown prince knew about or ordered the killing, a possibility U.S. intelligence agencies consider likely, and whether the Trump administration will be willing to sacrifice its strategic partnership with Saudi Arabia to hold him accountable. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo has repeatedly insisted the U.S. will do what’s necessary to punish those responsible for the death of Khashoggi, a former Saudi insider turned critic who had moved to the U.S. and was a columnist for the Washington Post. But senators from both parties have demanded the White House be more forthcoming about intelligence gathered on what happened to Khashoggi, and have signaled they may back broader sanctions against Saudi Arabia. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] Who holds government accountable not we cross these lines we sound the alert There are now people in power who see journalism as a threat [ FOREIGN ] Freedom of Of the press starts at the local level. [ FOREIGN ] It is violence, fear and lies. We don't have the luxury to lose our freedom. What are you gonna stand for, what is the line that you won't cross? [ SOUND ] [ MUSIC ] Their Philippines is a customary tale for the United States. Duterte is an authoritarian [ CROSSTALK ] He's an authoritarian leader accused of a variety of human rights abuses. Duterte pledged that he would kill a hundred thousands filipinos. When people don't know what is real and what is fake, the voice with the loudest megaphone gains more power. There's no president for what the government is doing. They just have no idea where it will go. [ SOUND ] Mainstream media in Vietnam are monopolize by the state. The numer of Bloggers being setenced to very long. And has been held after exposing a toxic waste. [ FOREIGN ] A court in Myanmar sentenced [ CROSSTALK ] Was sentenced to seven years in prison. The journalist said they were framed because of their reported of a massacre of Rohingya people. My husband worked to expose the truth. I am teaching my child to be proud of her father. [ FOREIGN ] The problem goes beyond censorship. China's massive surveillance program. I make the decision to prohobit this operation. Where is he? Whats happened to him? Her husband has been detained in the Northwestern part of the country. You can't be asking questions. If one takes the definition of news as something that someone wants to suppress, by definition, journalists will be going against the interests of the powerful. More protests are happening in Sudan. [ CROSSTALK ] In institutions, rule of law, we lost all of these things. Sudan is a country without laws. We are not the [ INAUDIBLE ] you are nothing. Democrats and Republicans alike have been criticizing president Trump after he refused to punish Saudi Arabia over the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi. We're not gonna give up hundreds of billions of dollars in orders. You have to be wilfully blind not to come to the conclusion that the crown prince is a wrecking ball. And it is complicit in the murder of Mr. Khashoggi. We all learned in our schools that the journalists shouldn't be the story itself. My government didn't like the story. They put me in jail. I was attacked, and I'm in exile now. The story is not written by myself Tatiana Felgengauer was stabbed in the neck by an assailant who breached station security and attacked her. It's hard, but if you feel that you cannot be anyone else, be brave, and be Here's the moment Arkady Babchenko returned from the dead. Well that is the journalist who was reported had been shot dead. [ FOREIGN ] Around 10, 000 Hungarians have protested in Budapest against government control of the media. Critics fear it's a sign the country is slipping into authoritarianism. Bad situation in Venezuela getting a whole lot worse, the Attorney General. [ CROSSTALK ] Deadly protests riddled the streets this summer after President Maduro rewrote the country's constitution and banned the main opposition party. [ FOREIGN ] [ FOREIGN ] Mexico is the most dangerous country in Latin America. [ FOREIGN ] [ FOREIGN ] [ MUSIC ] The news doesn't tell the truth. They are so dishonest. You are fake news. Explosive devices discovered in multiple locations. We're gonna jump in there's a fire alarm here. You might have heard it in the background we're gonna find out what the latest. I hate being the story, I just do. There has been a shooting at a newspaper building in Annapolis. That put us closer to the rest of the world in a way this horrifying but eye opening. [ MUSIC ] [ FOREIGN ] it's a series of small decisions that in the end bends and breaks the rule of law. When I'm dissapointed or pessimistic I always go to my library And read history books. Democracy and freedom of the press, they are fragile, but in the end they will prevail. 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