Trump deepens Saudi alliance as 9/11 and Khashoggi questions persist

Rep. Eugene Vindman, Democrat of Virginia, is demanding that President Donald Trump release a 2019 call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, saying the American people “deserve to know what was said” in the wake of Jamal Khashoggi’s killing.

Vindman, a retired Army colonel who once served on Trump’s National Security Council, said the call was one of two that concerned him deeply — the other being the 2019 conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that triggered Trump’s first impeachment.

Standing alongside Hanan Elatr Khashoggi, the murdered journalist’s widow, Vindman said Trump “sidelined his own intelligence community to protect a foreign leader” and that transparency was owed to both the Khashoggi family and the country.

“The Khashoggi family and the American people deserve to know what was said on that call,” Vindman said Friday. “Our intelligence agencies concluded that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the murder of Mr. Khashoggi’s husband. When the president sidelined his own intelligence community to protect a foreign leader, America’s credibility was at stake.”

Rep. Eugene Vindman demands that transcripts of 2019 Saudi calls be released. (Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)

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Vindman’s name is already polarizing Trump-era politics.

He and his twin brother, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, became central figures in the first impeachment attempt against Trump, when their internal reporting on Trump’s Ukraine call led to accusations from conservatives that they had undermined an elected president. For Trump allies, Eugene Vindman’s demand to release the 2019 Saudi call looks like a repeat of that fight — another attempt by a former National Security Council member to harm the president under the guise of transparency.

Yet his comments come at a telling time. Washington’s embrace of bin Salman highlights a well-known trade-off in American foreign policy: strategic security and economic interests over accountability and human rights.

“Trump doesn’t give a damn. I’ll take that hand,” Trump told reporters Tuesday. “I don’t care where that hand was – I’m taking that hand.” (Nathan Howard/Politics/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, “The U.S.-Saudi friendship is now a partnership for the future. President Trump’s historic agreements with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, from defense to investment, will create quality jobs for Americans and grow our economy.

Relations with the White House

Trump’s latest visit with Bin Salman yielded high-profile defense and investment deals, even as questions over 9/11 and Khashoggi’s killing continue to test that balance. The United States has granted Saudi Arabia major non-NATO ally status, officially strengthening the kingdom’s defense and intelligence partnership with Washington and paving the way for accelerated arms sales and joint military programs.

Bin Salman also pledged nearly $1 trillion in new Saudi investments in U.S. sectors, including infrastructure, artificial intelligence and clean energy. The commitments were announced alongside a strategic defense deal that includes the purchase of F-35 fighter jets, about 300 Abrams tanks and new missile defense systems, as well as joint ventures to expand manufacturing in Saudi Arabia.

Administration officials said the initiatives would create tens of thousands of U.S. jobs and strengthen the U.S. industrial base.

During his appearance with Trump at the White House, reporters raised questions about Saudi Arabia’s alleged role in the Sept. 11 attacks and the 2018 killing of Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul — marking a rare moment of public pressure on the crown prince, who usually avoids impromptu exchanges with the press.

Trump accused the press of trying to “embarrass” his guest, but the crown prince expressed what sounded like regret for Khashoggi’s killing, even as he denied any involvement.

“A lot of people didn’t like this gentleman that you’re talking about,” Trump said. “Whether you like him or not, things happen, but he didn’t know about it… We can leave it at that. You don’t have to embarrass our guest by asking a question like that.”

ABC reporter Mary Bruce told Bin Salman that US intelligence had determined he approved the killing and that the families of the 9/11 victims were “furious” at his presence at the White House. “Why should Americans trust you?”

“It was painful for us in Saudi Arabia,” Bin Salman said of the assassination, calling it a “huge mistake.” “We have improved our system to make sure nothing like this happens again,” he added.

Jamal Khashoggi, pictured above with his wife Hanan Elatr. (@hananelatr via X)

TRUMP DESIGNATES SAUDI ARABIA AS MAJOR NON-NATO ALLY DURING CROWN PRINCE’S VISIT TO WHITE HOUSE

A 2021 report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence stated: “We believe that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey, aimed at capturing or killing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. »

Bin Salman has repeatedly denied approving the killing, although he said in 2019: “This happened under my watch, I take full responsibility for it as a leader.”

September 11, 2001

The question of Saudi Arabia’s involvement in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 remains one of the most sensitive and unresolved issues in US-Saudi relations. Although 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals, the U.S. government never concluded that the Saudi state or senior Saudi officials had knowledge of or directed the attacks.

Families of 9/11 victims have condemned bin Salman after he invoked Osama bin Laden during his White House speech, saying the al-Qaeda leader was using Saudi nationals to drive a wedge between Washington and Riyadh.

“We need to focus on reality,” the crown prince said. “The reality is that Osama bin Laden used Saudis in this event for one primary purpose: to destroy US-Saudi relations. That is the purpose of 9/11.”

“The fact that the Saudi crown prince invoked Osama bin Laden this afternoon at the White House does not change the fact that a federal judge in New York ruled a few months ago that Saudi Arabia must be judged for its role in the 9/11 terrorist attacks that killed 3,000 of our loved ones,” said Brett Eagleson, president of 9/11 Justice, a group representing victims’ families.

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In August 2025, U.S. District Judge George B. Daniels issued a landmark ruling placing Saudi Arabia under U.S. federal jurisdiction for a 9/11 trial. The court found evidence of a network of Saudi officials inside the United States who allegedly provided logistical support to the hijackers, citing “advance planning” and “constant coordination.”

Among the documents outlined in the ruling was a drawing seized from a Saudi government agent showing a plane with flight path equations — evidence prosecutors say suggests prior knowledge of the attacks.

Saudi Arabia has denied any role, calling the allegations “categorically false.”

But for bin Salman, who came to Washington to highlight new security and economic ties, the strong criticism addressed to the families is a reminder that the September 11 affair still occupies an important place in the eyes of the public, even if the Trump administration deepens its partnership with Riyadh.