Joe Biden slams reporter’s ‘silly question’ on Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince killing more dissidents

The US president has unleashed on a reporter for asking him a question about the Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince’s motives.

President Biden dismissed what he called a “silly question” Friday about whether his patched-up relationship with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman would give Riyadh’s ruler the green light to assassinate more opponents like Jamal Khashoggi.

Biden had sought to sideline bin Salman, who is commonly known by his initials, MBS, before record-high gas prices this year prompted the president to book a two-day stop in the kingdom to rehabilitate the 36-year-old de facto ruler of the country.

“How can you be sure that another incident — another murder like Jamal Khashoggi won’t happen again?” a female reporter asked Biden following his largely closed-door meeting with the prince in the Saudi city of Jeddah.

“God love you. What a silly question. How could I possibly be sure of any of that?” Biden snapped.

“I just made it clear if anything occurs like that again, they would get that response and much more,” the president said before adding: “Can I predict anything’s gonna happen? Let alone here, let alone any other part of the world? No.”

US President Joe Biden called the reporter’s question ‘silly’. Picture: Mandel Ngan/AFP

Biden then concluded with a tongue-twister: “No one has ever wondered if I mean what I say, the question is that I sometimes say all that I mean.”

In response to a question earlier in the hastily scheduled presidential appearance, Biden said he raised Khashoggi’s murder at the start of his meeting with MBS.

According to the president, the crown prince “basically said that he was not personally responsible” for Khashoggi’s 2018 murder inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and that he “took action against those who were responsible.”

“I indicated I thought he was [responsible],” Biden said.

It was impossible to know if the meeting unfolded the way the president said it did, since reporters were removed from the meeting room before talks between Biden and MBS got underway in earnest.

Biden’s remarks were not on his initial schedule for Friday, but were tacked on after he received widespread and bipartisan condemnation of his cordial fist bump with bin Salman as he arrived at a royal palace for the meeting.

This article originally appeared on New York Post and has been reproduced with permission.