Donald Trumpand his daughterIvanka Trumpare drawing criticism for their warm interaction with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman while attending the Group of 20 Summit in Argentina.
The moment comes despite areportthat the CIA has concluded the leader was responsible for ordering themurder ofWashington Postcolumnist Jamal Khashoggilast month.
Although Trump, at first, walked past Mohammed after arriving late to a leaders’ meeting on Friday, the president was later seen talking with the leader on the sidelines, along with his daughter and United States Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin, according toTheWashington Post.
The White House told pool reporters that Trump “exchanged pleasantries” with the crown prince during the leaders’ session on Friday, “as he did with nearly every leader in attendance,” according toThe Hill.
Without elaborating much on their interaction, Trump went on to tell reporters that the pair “had no discussion,” according to thePost. “We might have, but we had none,” he said.
At of the same meeting, Vladimir Putin was also seengiving Mohammed a high-five.
Many Twitter users expressed outrage over the warmth with which Trump greeted the world leader.
While some referenced Mohammed’s alleged involvement with the murder of Khashoggi, others slammed Trump for what they described as him “sucking up” to the leader in order to keep oil prices low.
Amending a headline about the interaction, one Twitter userwrote, “Three dummies and a cold blooded murderer exchange pleasantries.”
“Debtor meets creditor!”addedanother outraged social media user.
Still others questioned whether “pleasantries” was really the most diplomatic word to describe the interaction.
Wroteone social media user, ” ‘pleasantries’ being an odd choice of words when the subtext involves murder and dismemberment.”
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Trump has previously come out in support of Mohammed, despite the backlash surrounding the leader.
On Tuesday, the president said taht the U.S. would continue to enjoy a “steadfast” alliance with Saudi Arabia, according toThe Hill, telling reporters that “if we abandon Saudi Arabia, it would be a terrible mistake.”
Trump also dismissed reports that the CIA had found Mohammed guilty of ordering the journalist’s murder.
Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP/REX/Shutterstock
However, things were not as warm between Putin and Trump, whocancelled a planned meeting with the Russian leaderon Thursday, with less than 24 hours notice,citing Russian aggression toward Ukraine.
The decision to cancel the meeting was made shortly after Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohenpleaded guilty to lying to Congressregarding a real estate deal Trump was pursuing with Russia during the presidential election.
Trump has repeatedly maintained his innocence, denying any collusion with Russia occurred.
Defending himself on Twitter, Trumpwroteon Friday, “Oh, I get it! I am a very good developer, happily living my life, when I see our Country going in the wrong direction (to put it mildly). Against all odds, I decide to run for President & continue to run my business-very legal & very cool, talked about it on the campaign trail.”
Continuing, he added that although he “lightly looked at doing a building somewhere in Russia” he “put up zero money, [made] zero guarantees” and ultimately did not move forward with the real estate deal.
source: people.com
