Earlier this week on The View, Sunny Hostin criticized President Joe Biden for taking a friendly photo with Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.
After being caught on camera fist bumping Mohammed bin Salman while visiting Saudi Arabia last week, Biden was the subject of a contentious debate today amongst the co-hosts. As Mohammed bin Salman has been charged with several human rights abuses, including reportedly ordering Khashoggi’s murder. 1. Jamal Khashoggi, a writer for the Washington Post, was murdered in 2018 while visiting the Saudi Arabian consulate in Turkey.
2. Following Donald Trump's trip there in 2017, Biden is the second sitting vice president to make a trip to Saudi Arabia.
Hostin said that she “had an issue” with Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia, but she doesn’t believe that Biden “gets a pass simply because he’s a democrat.”
She continued, “I think this is bad no matter how you look at it, and we shouldn’t be here saying, ‘Well Trump did it so it’s okay that Biden did it.’ It’s just not okay in my view. I understand he was there because of the oil prices, I understand that we should be taxing American oil companies that are gouging Americans, that’s really what we should be doing.”
3. “But the bottom line is, this was an unforced error. The White House is saying it’s because of COVID that he was fist bumping,” Hostin continued.
“She then questioned the excuse of a fist bump because of COVID saying, “Well, I don’t know, he was shaking hands with people in Israel, he was shaking hands with the Palestinian authority. He didn’t have a mask on, and he’s fist bumping this guy who is clearly a murderer.”
“This is a murderer,” she continued. “You don’t normalize a murderer by this fist bump. It was the photo op that he wanted and we’ve normalized these relationships.”
4. Joy Behar tried responded with, “Is he really normalizing it?”
“No, Joy,” Hostin said to her. “I think this is the rehabilitation that MBS wants. Joe Biden gave that to him.”
Watch a clip below:
PRES. BIDEN CRITICIZED OVER SAUDI ARABIA TRIP: #TheView panel weighs in on the president receiving backlash for fist bumping Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is accused of approving the murder of ‘Washington Post’ journalist Jamal Khashoggi. https://t.co/meVEvuDb7k pic.twitter.com/DlWMn6P36Y
— The View (@TheView) July 18, 2022
