State Dept. reaffirms need for Saudi relationship

The State Department doubles down on the need for the U.S. to continue a relationship with Saudi Arabia.

This comes after the Biden administration published a declassified intelligence report finding that Saudi Arabia's crown prince had ordered an operation to capture or kill Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post journalist and U.S. resident who was brutally slain at the Saudi consulate in Turkey.

Saudi Arabia has forcefully rejected the report's conclusions.

The intelligence findings were long known to many U.S. officials and, even as they remained classified, had been reported with varying degrees of precision.

But the public rebuke of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is still a touchstone in U.S-Saudi relations.

It leaves no doubt that as the prince continues in his powerful role and likely ascends to the throne, Americans will forever associate him with the brutal killing of a journalist who promoted democracy and human rights.

Yet even as the Biden administration released the findings, it appeared determined to preserve the Saudi relationship by avoiding direct punishment of the prince himself despite demands from some congressional Democrats and Khashoggi allies for significant and targeted sanctions.