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President Trump recently said that he saved Mohamed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, from Congress after the murder of Jamal Khashoggi (a Saudi author, dissident, and reporter) by Saudi Arabian security forces. How could the United States have jurisdiction over the Crown Prince if Saudi Arabia is a sovereign state?

Was he referring to sanctions? Arrests? Something else?

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    I think you mean Mohamed bin Salman, who is the crown prince of Saudi Arabia. Khashoggi is the journalist who was certainly murdered by Saudi security forces in Turkey, although Mohamed bin Salman's involvement is disputed. Sep 13, 2020 at 13:14
  • You should be careful with the names Khashoggi is the one who the crown prince ordered to kill in Turkey!
    – IrbidMath
    Sep 13, 2020 at 13:38
  • Can you please delete those comments? Sep 13, 2020 at 14:10
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    Come, let's be honest. At this point no one would be surprised if Trump claimed to have saved Khashoggi.
    – Obie 2.0
    Sep 13, 2020 at 14:13
  • Right. I'd rather him saying that. Sep 13, 2020 at 14:14

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Trump is likely pointing to his administration's refusal to provide Congress with details of Khashoggi's murder, or to accuse or sanction Mohamed bin Salman directly, despite imposing sanctions on numerous other Saudi officials. See this BBC article from back in February.

But honestly, Trump says a lot of things, often without any clear reason, context, perspective, or basis in fact. I find it confusing that he would raise the specter of Khashoggi's murder during an election season, unless it's part of his general pro-authoritarian message: pointing to the fact that he protected MbS because 'strong' leaders like MbS and himself have an intrinsic right to 'take care of' dissidents, opponents, and troublemakers.

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