Trump held recent discussion with Saudi Crown Prince

WASHINGTON - Former US president Donald Trump recently spoke to Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, their first publicly disclosed conversation since Trump left office in January 2021, according to two people briefed on the discussion who were not authorised to speak publicly about it.

It was unclear what the two men discussed and whether it was their only conversation since Trump’s departure from the White House.

Neither representatives for Trump nor an official of the Saudi government responded to requests for comment.

But news of their discussion comes at a time when the Biden administration is engaged in delicate negotiations with the Saudis aimed at establishing a lasting peace in the Middle East, building on diplomatic ties between Israel and a number of Arab states forged through the work of the Trump administration.

If US President Joe Biden manages to clinch a trilateral mega deal – which would probably include a Saudi-Israeli peace agreement, an Israeli commitment to a two-state solution, a US-Saudi defence treaty and US-Saudi understandings on a civilian nuclear programme in Saudi Arabia – he will need support from two-thirds of senators to ratify the US-Saudi treaty.

Trump, as the presumptive Republican nominee in firm command of his party, could potentially either block any deal or green-light it for congressional Republicans.

Trump has other reasons to maintain warm relations with Crown Prince Mohammed.

The former president and Mr Jared Kushner, his son-in-law and former senior White House adviser, established close ties with the Crown Prince while in office and have capitalised on that goodwill in their private businesses since leaving government.

Saudi Arabia was the first stop on Trump’s first foreign trip as president – a sign of the value he placed on the relationship.

He also pursued major deals with the Saudis, including arms sales, and defended Crown Prince Mohammed at his moment of greatest international pressure, after the US Central Intelligence Agency concluded that he had ordered the killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

Nine months after the killing, Trump called the Crown Prince “a friend of mine” and praised the “spectacular job” he had done in liberalising Saudi Arabia’s laws, including allowing women to drive.

While still in office, Trump told the journalist Bob Woodward that “I saved his ass” when Crown Prince Mohammed was under intense criticism from US Congress officials.

“I was able to get Congress to leave him alone. I was able to get them to stop,” Trump added.

For his part, Mr Biden promised during his 2020 election campaign to treat Crown Prince Mohammed as a “pariah” because of the killing of Mr Khashoggi.

Once in office, however, he concluded that it was unsustainable to sideline the Crown Prince, and his team has sought to mend the fractured relationship.

Since leaving the presidency, Trump has made use of his Saudi connections.

As Trump was preparing to announce his presidential campaign in November 2022, the Trump Organisation was putting the final touches on a deal with the Omani government and a Saudi firm for a multibillion-dollar Trump-branded real estate development in Oman.

Trump has also worked with Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund to host the Saudi-backed LIV golf tour at some of his golf courses.

Mr Kushner has benefited from Crown Prince Mohammed’s support on an even larger scale.

Only six months after leaving the government, Mr Kushner’s investment firm, Affinity Partners, secured US$2 billion (S$2.7 billion) from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, in what was described in internal documents as a “strategic relationship” with Mr Kushner.

A panel of advisers to the Saudi sovereign wealth fund had recommended against investing with Mr Kushner, citing his lack of experience, but the Crown Prince overruled them.

The Crown Prince is not the only foreign leader with whom Trump has engaged recently.

In March, he hosted Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida for a meeting, the second in the last two years.

A person close to Trump said it was Mr Orban who sought the meeting.

At some of his rallies, Trump has lauded Mr Orban – who has been criticised for eroding democratic institutions in Hungary – as an admirably strong leader. NYTIMES