President Joe Biden is expected to speak to Saudi King Salman for the first time since taking office more than a month ago. Coming as soon as Thursday, the conversation between the two strategic partners will be overshadowed by the expected release of U.S. intelligence findings on whether the king’s son approved the killing of a U.S.-based Saudi journalist. Jamal Khashoggi was a critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s authoritarian consolidation of power. Saudi security and intelligence agents and others killed Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018. The Saudi prince denies ordering the killing. The Biden administration has promised “accountability” in the slaying of the U.S.-based journalist.
