Tapper Says Americans ‘Revolted’ by Biden’s Saudi Fist Bump: ‘What Accomplishments Make This Worth It?’

Zachary LeemanJul 15th, 2022, 5:05 pm
 

President Joe Biden found himself with little to no defenders on CNN following his press conference on his Saudi Arabia trip. In a discussion with Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), Jake Tapper said Americans were “revolted” to see the president fist bumping Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the man believed to be responsible for the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

Coons attempted to defend the president’s trip and declared “no one has as strong a record in the Senate as vice president and president as Joe Biden on human rights.” Tapper, however, was having none of it:

So senator, first of all, Joe Biden when he was running for president, he said he was going to turn Saudi Arabia into a pariah nation. Okay. He said he was going to turn Saudi Arabia into a pariah nation. He flew to Saudi Arabia, and he fist bumped Muhammad bin Salman, the man responsible, according to Biden’s own director of national intelligence, for ordering a brutal murder of a Washington Post journalist, killing him and then dismembering him with a bone saw. I mean, that fist bump photograph, I think a lot of Americans saw that and were revolted by it.

Tapper also dismissed any concessions Biden got out of the trip, arguing the fist-bumping photo will be used as propaganda in Saudi Arabia.

“They love this,” he said, later asking, “what accomplishments make this worth it?”

Prior to Tapper’s exchange with Coons, two reporters for the Washington Post tore into Biden’s trip on CNN Newsroom. Post writer Jason Rezaian called the trip an example of the U.S. “sacrificing our values.” The paper itself released a scathing statement, calling Biden’s fist bumping photo “shameful.”

Josh Rogin, a columnist for the Post and a CNN legal analyst, called Biden’s press conference a “box-checking exercise.”

“They transferred a couple of Red Sea islands to Saudi control. In exchange for not making Israeli planes fly all the way around Saudi Arabia, which was ridiculous in the first place. He mentioned Khashoggi, seemed like a box-checking exercise,” Rogin said.

Watch above via CNN.

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Zachary Leeman

Zachary Leeman covered pop culture and politics at outlets such as Breitbart, LifeZette, BizPac Review, HollywoodinToto, and others. He is the author of the novel Nigh. He joined Mediaite in 2022.