Trump pulling out all the stops to welcome Saudi crown prince for first White House visit since Khashoggi killing

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/trump-pulling-stops-welcome-saudi-100001496.html

Trump is planning to receive Saudi Arabia’s powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the White House this week with all the trappings of a state visit, sources familiar with the matter said, including a welcome ceremony in the morning and a formal dinner in the evening.

“We’re more than meeting,” Trump said late Friday as he flew to Florida for the weekend. “We’re honoring Saudi Arabia, the Crown Prince.”

While the White House has decided to pull out all the stops, the visit cannot be classified as an official state visit as Prince bin Salman is not Saudi Arabia’s head of state. That position is occupied by his 89-year-old father, King Salman. But the crown prince has assumed almost all day-to-day responsibility for ruling the kingdom, and attends summits and other diplomatic engagements as the country’s leader.

The meetings Tuesday will mark Prince bin Salman’s first visit to the White House in more than seven years. Trump has worked to cultivate a close relationship with the kingdom’s de facto ruler in the hopes he will decide to establish diplomatic ties with Israel, which would be a major advancement of the president’s signature Abraham Accords — a longtime goal of the president’s.