How Trump’s arms deal impacts US – Saudi relations

Podcasts

President Donald Trump shakes hands with Saudi Defense Minister and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Tuesday, March 14, 2017, in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The U.S. Senate voted to block the sale of billions of dollars in arms to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, a sharp rebuke of the President Trump’s attempt to circumvent Congress. Trump cites escalating tensions with Iran and its role as a national security threat to justify the deal.

This comes just weeks after the U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions called the 2018 murder of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi a “deliberate, premeditated execution” at the direction of the Saudi crown prince. The Trump administration has remained silent.

While the House will take up the arms deal next month, Trump has already vowed to veto any legislation. On today’s episode of The Heat Podcast Anand Naidoo talks with Joel Rubin, professor and the State Department’s former senior official to the House Foreign Affairs Committee.