Biden Expands 1st Visit to Mideast as President, Postpones to July
US President Joe Biden has postponed a visit to the Middle East to July, according to several reports citing White House officials. It will be Biden’s first trip to the region since becoming president. Biden had planned a trip at the end of this month to Saudi Arabia and Israel. Instead, he is now planning a broader trip through the region, NBC first reported. The visit to Saudi Arabia will include a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council +3 Summit, according to the report. Biden will make a scheduled trip to Spain and Germany this month. Reports have said that Biden will meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman; this is controversial since Biden ordered the release of US intelligence reports that show that the crown prince ordered the 2018 murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, which the Saudis deny. During his presidential campaign, Biden promised to turn Saudi Arabia into a ‘pariah’ state. Hatice Cengiz, who was Khashoggi’s fiancé, condemned Biden’s planned visit to Saudi Arabia to meet MbS, as the crown price is known, “saddening and enraging.” She told CNN in an interview that if Biden meets the crown prince he will have “lost his moral compass.”
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