Page 88 - Mbs News Today

His then 31-year-old son. >> saudi arabia has a new heir to the throne. >> a royal shakeup in the house. >> mbs was an obscure young royal known to almost no one outside saudi arabia. now, he is poised to succeed his ailing father and rule the kingdom for half a century if his health and the monarchy hold out. >> this is somebody with a great deal of ambition and who has the complete support and faith of his father. >> when mbs rocketed to power, he began to shake things up almost right away. th...

Enormous. >> absolutely. hes working to restore his image on the world stage following the death of journalist jamal khashoggi. when we spoke with officials before going to the trip, what did president biden seek to gain with someone he once vowed was a pariah. they talked about security, they talked about oil, and a lot of the issues the leaders are discussing today in addition to the iran. you ask what do the saudis get. its rehabilitation for mbs, the meeting with president biden and the phot...

Perhaps new. i think, again, what we were looking for was more of a strong, you know, consequences and accountability. for all we know he could have said that murder was bad. and mbs could have said, yeah, it was, i wasnt responsible, and then moved on to the next topic. obviously, i think what jamal would have wanted to see out of this meeting is to speak up for many of the prisoners who are still imprisoned. the clerical mouda. it wasnt just about him. it was about these prisoners. it was also...

Posted another video, a video the press did not have access to of mbs fist bumping the presidents entire national security team. it wasnt just the president. it was his top advisers. this appears to be the cost of trying to do business once again with saudi arabia. a risk calculation the administration knew going in and clear in the wake of it. is it clear how the saudis thought this day went? >> reporter: you know what, i think the biggest way to kind of view it right now is based on two diff...

Posted another video, a video the press did not have access to of mbs fist bumping the presidents entire national security team. it wasnt just the president. it was his top advisers. this appears to be the cost of trying to do business once again with saudi arabia. a risk calculation the administration knew going in and clear in the wake of it. >> it clear how the saudis thought this day went? >> reporter: you know what, i think the biggest way to kind of view it right now is based on two differ...

Detain u.s. nationals inside saudi arabia. thats a problem particularly for the president who genuinely believes human rights and our values are critically important. we can argue our values are our values and our interests are our interests. but there has to be a balance struck to begin at least dealing with some of the criticism. frankly, i dont think there was that balance in terms of the tone. the criticism is mounting. it will go away, but the stain that exists over mbs for co-shoghi and hi...

Entertainment city in the dessert. it all seemed to be moving forward, but then came the murder of the journalist. mbs lost some key business partners. now a few years later, the majority of foreign businesses seemed to have moved on. theyre running to saudi arabia with open arms. and while the u.s. remains angry, at home, support for mbs, particularly among young people, is surging. one more factor that may keep mbs in power is nationalism. >> people have this sense of belonging to the state be...

>> massive purge of princes all arrested by a man who would be king. >> early in his reign, mbs imprisoned hundreds of princes and wealthy business men and the ritz carlton of all places. >> we drive in under police escort. >> it was called a crackdown on corruption. >> no one enters here now without official permission. >> what appeared to be cell phone video emerged showing a chaotic scene in one of the worlds fanciest hotels. the. >> it was a shake down power play of all his potential rivals....

Important for him to go to saudi arabia. but really, as you are pointing out with all these photos and all this damage control press conference, really wasnt the best move on part of the president. and i dont think theres a lot of upside for him as a result of this trip. >> the president in his press conference is suggested that this wasnt necessarily a bilateral gathering, he wasnt there to see mbs in particular who is there to meet the regional leaders and this happened to be in saudi arabia. ...

Trail. if you look at what each sides getting out of this, the saudis are getting precisely what they wanted, which is to rehabilitate the image of mbs, someone who was on the stage following the brutal murder of jamal khashoggi but has made this comeback. it was really solidified with president biden coming here. thats why you saw the saudis prepare to capture this moment as they merged together with that fist bump. fred ryan called it more than a handshake. officials are downplaying it. they s...