Biden Rebuked for Visit to Saudi Arabia: Bernie Sanders

In comments to ABC This Week host Martha Raddatz on July 17, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said that President Joe Biden should not have rewarded a brutal dictatorship like Saudi Arabia with a visit.

In reply to Raddatz’s question whether the visit to Saudi Arabia should have been made, Sanders said,  “No, I don’t think so.”

Sanders pointed to an incident that happened back in 2018 saying, “You have a leader of that country who was involved in the murder of a Washington Post journalist.”

The crown prince has been accused of orchestrating the murder of Saudi Arabia journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, after Khashoggi, a columnist for the Washington Post, went into a Saudi embassy in Turkey.

“I don’t think that that type of government should be rewarded with a visit by the president of the United States,” he added.

“Look, you got a family that is worth $100 billion, which questions democracy, which treats women as third-class citizens, which murderers and imprisons its opponents,” he said of the Saudi royal family, Reuters reported.

Thus, it is not necessary for America to cozy up with such a country, Sanders pointed out. 

Put Pressure on Oil Companies

Sanders further disputed the Biden administration’s intent of reaching out to the OPEC countries for oil. 

Instead, he urged the U.S. president to push the oil companies to cease swindling domestic consumers. 

“I happen to believe that we’ve got to tell the oil companies to stop ripping off the American people and if they don’t, we should impose a windfall profits tax on them,” he said.

Sanders expressed his concern about the looming recession that the United States could face, but noted that the billionaires had seen their wealth increase by $2 trillion throughout the pandemic. 

“If you’re looking at the outrageously high cost