Former President Donald Trump spoke recently with Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, their first publicly disclosed conversation since Trump left office in January 2021, according to two people briefed on the discussion who were not authorized to speak publicly about it.
It was unclear what the two men discussed and whether it was their only conversation since Trump’s departure from the White House. Neither representatives for Trump nor an official of the Saudi government responded to requests for comment.
But news of their discussion comes at a time when the Biden administration is engaged in delicate negotiations with the Saudis aimed at establishing a lasting peace in the Middle East, building on diplomatic ties between Israel and a number of Arab states forged through the work of the Trump administration.
If President Joe Biden manages to clinch a trilateral megadeal — which would probably include a Saudi-Israeli peace agreement, an Israeli commitment to a two-state solution, a U.S.-Saudi defense treaty and U.S.-Saudi understandings on a civilian nuclear program in Saudi Arabia — he will need support from two-thirds of senators to ratify the U.S.-Saudi treaty. Trump, as the presumptive Republican nominee in firm command of his party, could potentially either block any deal or greenlight it for congressional Republicans.
Trump has other reasons to maintain warm relations with Crown Prince Mohammed. The former president and Jared Kushner, his son-in-law and former senior White House adviser, established close ties with the crown prince while in office and have capitalized on that good will in their private businesses since leaving government.
