>> President Trump thinks that MBS is a great thing for Saudi Arabia, that he's doing a wonderful job, that he's investing in the United States.

He sees that there's kind of a realist calculation about what America's interests are.

And it is to remain very closely allied with MBS.

>> NARRATOR: Correspondent Martin Smith examines the alliance between Mohammed bin Salman and Donald Trump.

>> Why did President Trump see the Saudis as important to his America First agenda?

>> President Trump saw Saudi Arabia as really the linchpin to the modern Middle East.

>> They buy apartments from me.

They spend forty million, fifty million.

Am I supposed to dislike them?

I like them very much.

>> NARRATOR: Now on FRONTLINE, The Crown Prince & The President.

(helicopter blades churning) (sirens wailing) >> President Trump is hosting the Saudi Crown Prince at the White House today.

>> The Crown Prince is arriving around 11:00 A.M.

for a series of meetings.

>> For years, MBS, as he is widely known, was shunned on the world stage.

Now, President Trump will bestow on the 40-year-old ruler the pomp and pageantry usually reserved for an official state visit.

(bugles and drums playing fanfare) >> Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States.

(band plays "Hail to the Chief") >> This is his first visit to the United States since the 2018 murder of "Washington Post" journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which U.S.

intelligence assessed the Crown Prince knew about, even though he's denied it.

♪ ♪ >> Quite the welcome at the White House for the Saudi Crown Prince.

>> Aircraft, flying in formation over President Trump, who literally rolled out the red carpet to welcome Mohammed bin Salman.

>> This is the grandest reception that essentially we've seen for any foreign leader during this second Trump term.

>> And why?

Well, it's all about the money.

>> From Saudi plans to invest billions of dollars in the United States, to a joint security agreement.

♪ ♪ >> We have a, uh, extremely respected man in the Oval Office today, and a friend of mine for a long time.

What he's done is incredible in terms of human rights and everything else.

And you've... agreed to invest $600 billion into the United States.

Thank you very much.

>> Thank you, Mr.

President.

We believe in the future of United States of America.

We believe in what you're doing, Mr.

President.

Today and tomorrow, we're gonna announce that we are going to increase that, that $600 billion to almost $1 trillion for real investment and real opportunity.

>> I like that very much.

(laughter) >> Mr.

President, Mr.

President.

Is it appropriate, Mr.

President, for your family to be doing business in Saudi Arabia while you're president?

Is that a conflict of interest?

And, Your Royal Highness, the U.S.

intelligence concluded that you orchestrated the brutal murder of a journalist.

Why should Americans trust you?

>> Who are you with?

>> ABC News, sir.

>> Fake news.

ABC fake news.

One of the worst... >> But the question is legitimate, sir... >> One of the-- one of the worst in the business, but I'll answer your question.

>> Thank you.

>> I have nothing to do with the family business.

What my family does is fine.

As far as this gentleman is concerned, he's done a phenomenal job.

You're mentioning somebody that was extremely controversial.

A lot of people didn't like that gentleman that you're talking about.

Whether you like him or didn't like him, things happen, but he knew nothing about it, and we can leave it at that.

You don't have to embarrass our guest by asking a question like that.

>> (inaudible) >> Last November, in 2025, President Trump welcomed him very warmly at the White House.

(camera clicks) The Crown Prince certainly must have felt better to be welcomed back into the White House.

(laughter) When he shook hands with MBS, Trump said something like, "I don't mind shaking that hand.

I don't care where it's been."

>> I grab that hand.

(laughter) I don't care the hell where that hand's been.

>> He was basically alluding to the blood on MBS's hands, and saying, "I still don't mind shaking it."

>> MARTIN SMITH: I have covered the U.S.-Saudi relationship for over 20 years.

>> We are delighted to have you with us at the White House.

Very special, very, very special.

>> SMITH: I have seen many ups and downs.

But the friendship under Trump is something altogether different.

♪ ♪ This is a story about the alliance between Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, or MBS, and President Donald Trump.

(camera clicks) It is based on over 100 interviews I have done here and abroad.

What forces bind these men and their countries together?

And to what end?

♪ ♪ (crowd cheering, jet engine squealing) >> Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States... (cheers and applause) >> SMITH: In the beginning, a close friendship between Donald Trump and Saudi Arabia-- a deeply conservative Muslim country, home to 15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers-- seemed unlikely.

(crowd cheering) During his 2016 campaign, Trump stoked anti-Muslim fears.

"America First" was his mantra.

>> CROWD: U.S.A.!

U.S.A.!

U.S.A.!

>> And if I win, I've made it known they're going back.

We can't have them.

They're going back.

(crowd roaring) >> CROWD (chanting): We want Trump!

We want Trump!

(cheering) >> SMITH: In 2016, he rails against Muslims and he promises that his administration is going to put American interests first, and we're not going to embroil ourselves in the Middle East in particular.

>> For Trump there are Muslims, and there are Muslims.

There are Muslims who, according to him, are... preying on the social services and the social safety net of this country.

>> I want surveillance of certain mosques, okay?

If that's okay.

I want surveillance.

>> And there are the Muslims with a bottomless well of wealth that can enrich him, enrich his family, enrich, you know, contribute to his businesses, that can come in the country, build the factories that he wants to build for his supporters, invest in infrastructure and buy our weapons.

>> They got nothing but money.

If the right person asked them, they'd pay a fortune.

>> In his mindset, there are his people and the other people, and the Saudi royal family are his people.

>> Saudi Arabia and I get along great with all of them.

They buy apartments from me.

They spend $40 million, $50 million.

Am I supposed to dislike them?

I like them very much.

But, you know, Saudi Arabia makes $1 billion... a day.

A day!

>> SMITH: Why did President Trump see the Saudis as important to his "America First" agenda?

>> President Trump saw Saudi Arabia as really the linchpin to the modern Middle East.

>> SMITH: Victoria Coates was Trump's Deputy National Security Advisor for Middle Eastern Affairs.

>> When President Trump came into office, he saw the relationship in some disrepair, and so he saw a real opportunity there and also in the person of the Crown Prince, a future leader who was very interested in modernizing the kingdom.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (helicopter blades churning) >> SMITH: It was just after Trump's 2016 surprise election that the Saudis sent a delegation to New York.

They were looking to reset relations with the U.S.

I sat down with Middle East envoy, Martin Indyk, in 2019.

He has since passed away.

>> Suddenly, here is a new president coming in.

Nobody really knows what he's gonna do... except a lot of the things he said seemed to be quite worrying, and they needed contact.

And so, that the real challenge for the Saudis was to try to find a way in.

>> And they identified the son-in-law of the president, Jared Kushner, and most of the people around Trump as basically a blank slate in terms of their approach to the region.

Not deep in their knowledge, coming to it fresh and with a very transactional mindset.

And they came with a checkbook, hoping that by making some investments in red states, they could win the favor of the new Trump administration.

>> SMITH: Khalid Al-Falih, a high-level Saudi official, was among several Saudis who reached out to the incoming administration.

Did you meet with Jared Kushner?

>> I have met with Jared Kushner a couple of times, yes.

>> SMITH: You identified-- or the team that you were part of identified-- Jared Kushner as a, a promising interlocutor.

Can you recount what happened?

>> Well, first of all, it is natural... between any two allies, as governments change, to reach out to them.

And you try to understand what are the priorities and how can you... strengthen the relationship.

We were enthusiastic, this is a government that is going to be pro-business, pro-investment.

And of course we are a big investor.

We had great interest in the U.S.

>> The appointment of Jared Kushner, unofficially, even during the transition period, as his contact, was probably seen with relief.

These are family monarchies, right, in Saudi Arabia and the smaller states.

And the idea that, that President Trump would send his son-in-law, I think they probably found reassuring and certainly a direct conduit to the man not having to go through, you know, layers of State Department and things like that.

>> SMITH: Kushner did not respond to our request for an interview, but he has spoken publicly about an early encounter with the Saudis.

On one podcast, he said a member of the Saudi delegation brought up his inexperience.

>> The guy I was with-- "Jared," he says, "You don't know much about Saudi Arabia, do you?"

I said, "No, no, no, I don't.

"It's just really what I've kind of been told or what I read."

And he says, "Okay, we want to be great allies with America."

>> SMITH: Do you know about that meeting?

>> Yes, of course.

I heard about it from Jared Kushner himself.

He asked them for a document.

They produced a document.

>> SMITH: What were they offering?

>> Basically, an extremely strong strategic relationship, financial investments.

They wanted to turn the page with the United States and build an entirely new relationship.

>> And they came home with a report to the Royal Court, that said this new president has a very transactional mindset, more so than other administrations.

That's how he and the people around him approach the world.

(camera clicks) >> SMITH: Prior to Trump's victory, Kushner was a real estate developer who headed a firm he inherited from his father-- a New Jersey real estate baron who'd been convicted of multiple counts of tax evasion and witness tampering.

>> Obviously, Jared Kushner is a very interesting character because his father was arrested, and it put him as kind of the person in charge of the family business at a very young age, when he was still in law school.

And he took over this real estate business that his father had created while his father was in prison, and was on trial and in prison.

>> SMITH: The Kushner family's fortunes would soon turn.

In 2006, his father was released from prison, and shortly after, Jared fell for Ivanka Trump over a business lunch.

After they married, Kushner would become one of President Trump's top advisors.

>> He's become our principal negotiator with Iran, Ukraine, certainly in Gaza.

>> Jared Kushner will be in charge of that.

>> I don't think that was initially what he planned.

I think he is a business guy who kind of wandered into the Arab world, I don't think that was his initial plan.

But he got in deeper and deeper.

(camera clicks) >> SMITH: As a grandson of Holocaust survivors, Kushner was an Orthodox Jew who already had close ties to Israel through business investments and a personal relationship with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

>> The president has the right to appoint basically who he wants.

>> SMITH: Curt Mills is the executive director of "The American Conservative," an influential right-leaning magazine.

>> I don't think, you know, Kushner having limited diplomatic experience should have been disqualifying.

I think what was concerning is that he... was tripling down on favoring one side of the region against the other.

>> SMITH: Israel.

>> Israel and its allies, yeah.

>> SMITH: Do you think he was... getting educated by the Israelis as to what opportunity the Saudis might present?

>> I don't think you have to go too deep.

I mean, his, his... the relationship between Kushner and the Netanyahu family is, is very, very, very strong.

And so... instruction, education, symbiotic information, you know, all-- all there.

>> SMITH: Kushner has dismissed concerns about his close ties to Israel.

And, early on, Trump put him in charge of forging a new Middle East peace plan.

>> Bear in mind that in the first term, the president's first remit to Jared was to get to a Palestinian deal.

We spent a year working on the peace plan, and I was the NSC liaison for Jared and for Jason Greenblatt during that process, and that was a good faith effort.

>> SMITH: Jason Greenblatt.

For over 20 years, Greenblatt worked closely with Trump, eventually rising to become Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer of the Trump Organization.

After he was elected, Trump assigned Greenblatt to work with Kushner.

But you had no Middle East experience?

>> Same answer as Jared, no Middle East experience... >> SMITH: Yeah.

>> If anything, I was de-experienced, right?

I had my... >> SMITH: Right, you were negatively... >> My pro-Israel, my negative Saudi.

>> How are you?

Good to see you.

>> Our immediate task was to try to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which, by definition to us, didn't just include an agreement with the Israelis and the Palestinians, but as many of the Arab countries as possible.

>> SMITH: While preparing for the job, they consulted some of the veterans of Middle East diplomacy.

But in the end, they rejected their advice.

>> The people who were trying to explain to me how to do the job, uh, who I sought their opinions out... number one, had no track record of success; and number two, were giving me advice that just didn't make logical sense.

>> I don't think Kushner... felt that he needed to get briefed by anybody who had expertise in the region.

They didn't think they had anything to learn from us.

On the contrary, they thought... they viewed us as failures, particularly when it came to the peace process.

>> SMITH: "We don't need to listen to them."

>> Right.

And no, they had no interest in listening to us.

>> I'll pause a little bit, because Martin is no longer with us, and I don't want to say anything unkind, because I liked him genuinely as a person.

I spent a lot of time with Martin.

I heard him out, and I found the conversations useful, like everything is useful when you're trying to absorb like a sponge.

But there's a difference between... listening and learning and accepting.

Just because we didn't think Martin's way was correct, doesn't mean we didn't listen and try to understand it.

They feel upset that we didn't... take their advice and run with it.

>> SMITH: I also spoke with John Bolton-- Trump's former National Security Adviser-- who has since become a vocal critic.

Did you ever have any concerns about Kushner's ability?

Was that an issue?

>> Well, it depended on what he was doing.

And since a lot of it looked to be more a dilettante's interest in this issue or that issue or the other issue-- so, I say it didn't really distract my attention.

He did get into some things in terms of immigration policy, for example, to try and help Trump out.

But it was really very hard to define what he was there to do, until he began to work on his Middle East peace plan.

>> SMITH: Struggling to get Palestinians and Israelis to come to terms, Kushner would push to get Arab states to recognize Israel.

Saudi Arabia was considered the key.

>> Saudi Arabia was considered sort of the big prize, the big kahuna of all of this.

>> SMITH: Why?

>> Largest country in the Arab world, major role in Islam, because they are the home of Mecca and Medina.

A lot of other countries would look to Saudi Arabia.

So, I think... if they forged a deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia, I think President Trump would've thought it would be a feather in his cap.

>> SMITH: Kushner proposed that President Trump accept a Saudi invitation to go to Riyadh for his first foreign trip.

The trip was opposed by many advisors.

Give me a sense of the debate that was going on inside the administration over that trip.

>> Well, the pros are, we can't pretend they're not important.

We need a strong, good relationship with Saudi Arabia.

Um... They're going to be essential to any kind of peace process with the Palestinians.

We need oil.

We need money.

We need them to buy our defense.

But there were others who felt that they were bad guys, and they just felt it was not the right move.

>> SMITH: What did you think of that decision?

>> I thought it was crazy.

>> SMITH: Joseph Westphal was ambassador to Saudi Arabia under President Obama.

>> I thought it was good that he went to Saudi Arabia, but not to be the first country.

I think he should have followed the tradition of, you know, coming to-- going to Mexico and Canada first.

>> SMITH: But objections to the Saudi trip were dismissed.

Kushner would become the administration's primary contact with the Saudis.

In the run up to the trip, he even exchanged text messages with MBS.

Jared Kushner becomes a kind of point person.

Was that ever something that raised your eyebrows?

>> Well, Jared could perform whatever function he wanted to, because his father-in-law was the president.

It was not a problem for me.

He was much more a problem, I think, at the State Department.

>> SMITH: In February of 2017, I had my first visit with MBS in his palace office.

He spoke off the record, but what was clear is that he was very excited that President Trump was coming to Saudi Arabia.

♪ ♪ When Trump arrived in Riyadh, MBS and his father, King Salman, pulled out all the stops.

They wanted Trump's loyalty as much as Trump and Kushner wanted them.

>> The grandeur of this welcome is so different from past presidents.

>> Really just showing how excited this country is that President Trump has chosen Saudi Arabia to make his first stop.

>> The Saudis knew how to play Donald Trump.

They'd seen this kind of person before.

In many ways, he's kind of a mirror image of many Saudi princes.

>> Everywhere you look, there are posters welcoming Donald Trump... >> He put his picture up on big posters on the side of skyscrapers.

>> Pretty amazing welcome ceremony that President Trump is receiving.

>> Put on the sword dance.

(drum beating, men chanting) You put on a big display.

(bagpipes playing) You play to his ego, and he will do what you want him to do.

>> King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud confers King Abdulaziz Medal on President Donald Trump of the United States.

(applause) >> Trump was over the moon about this trip, by all accounts.

Just thought it was like, the coolest thing that ever happened.

He was welcomed by the king, you know, all of these various things.

You know, I think it gave him this huge international stamp of approval that I think he would've had a hard time getting in many other countries.

>> To give credit to Mohammed bin Salman, of his many sought-after accomplishments, the grooming and wooing of Donald Trump has to be pretty close to the top.

>> SMITH: The trip to Saudi Arabia, you're on it, right?

Give me some sense of what you were hoping to achieve.

>> Well, the first is to develop a real relationship, a rapport between the president and the leadership in Saudi.

I don't recall, and I would doubt if Israel-- normalization with Israel came up.

In fact, I'm 99% sure it wouldn't have come up.

>> SMITH: At the time of the visit, MBS was still not in line to assume power from his father, King Salman.

>> Mohammed bin Salman was not yet Crown Prince, But clearly Mohammed bin Salman was being teed up for a more important role as the favored son of King Salman.

>> SMITH: Standing in his way was the then-Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Nayef, or MBN.

MBN had been America's trusted partner in the fight against Al-Qaeda after 9/11.

>> MBN was a darling of the C.I.A.

When MBS showed up and represented a real threat to MBN as the next ruler of Saudi Arabia, a lot of the intelligence people got very, very upset and worried.

And what MBS wanted to do was to say to the Trump people, "I am the guy who's going to rule Saudi Arabia, and I'm better."

>> MBN was what?

He was Obama's man.

He was John Brennan's man, right?

C.I.A.

director under Obama.

And so the idea of, of dumping this guy, who had been pretty tight with the Obama set, or perceived to be as such, I think was an easy sell.

>> SMITH: Were you aware of, of him moving into position to become the Crown Prince?

Were you aware of the tension between him and Mohammed bin Nayef?

>> I have to be careful how I talk about it, obviously, because I can't disclose things that I can't disclose.

But we heard whispers, we heard movements, but until it happened, you know, we didn't know.

>> SMITH: You didn't have a sense that... MBN was on the way out?

>> I can't really get into things like that, but I would say the little sense that I might have had meant nothing until it actually happened.

>> SMITH: A top aide to MBN was Saad Al Jabri.

Al Jabri's eldest son, Khalid, told me that MBS was aiming to rid the Kingdom of his rival.

>> Understanding that Mohammed bin Salman wanted to be king of Saudi Arabia, and that the last hurdle happens to be my dad's boss.

Obviously it was going to get ugly.

>> SMITH: This trip takes place.

How did you see the Saudi-U.S.

relationship taking shape at this point?

I mean, he can sort of... sense what's going on.

>> My dad was actually kind of warned and advised to leave the kingdom.

>> SMITH: MBN's days were numbered.

MBS was the future.

>> And this rising, new de facto ruler is positioning himself as a reformer.

He talks about women having more rights in society.

He talks about westernizing culture a little bit, letting movies play.

He gets rid of the religious police, saying we're going to have a new paradigm.

And that's very attractive to a lot of Americans who are thinking, "This is a guy "who's going to finally do what's long overdue in Saudi Arabia."

>> SMITH: But, at the time of the trip, Saudi Arabia was still operating as it had for decades.

Women were living very restricted lives.

Political rights, due process, and free speech were largely absent.

How much did Trump or his administration understand about the kind of country they were visiting?

>> There's not much reason to think Trump was particularly concerned at the time that Saudi women can't drive, or that they still had this, you know, these "guardianship laws," where, basically, women needed a male relative to sign on any sort of major life decision, whether it was getting married or... you know, things like that, traveling abroad.

I don't think that it probably made all that much difference for Trump.

I just think that, you know, for Trump, these weren't things that he was going to allow to disrupt what he saw as this, you know, blooming relationship with this powerful and incredibly wealthy Middle Eastern country.

>> Yesterday, we signed historic agreements with the kingdom... >> SMITH: Trump ended his trip on a high note.

At a summit meeting of regional leaders Trump talked about a large Saudi arms deal.

>> This landmark agreement includes the announcement of a $110 billion Saudi-funded defense purchase.

>> SMITH: And Trump also promised the Saudis he would not meddle in their internal affairs.

>> He's actually said it openly, in the speech he gave in Riyadh, he said, "We're not going to come here "and dictate to you, you know, "how you should run your countries and live your lives."

>> America will not seek to impose our way of life on others.

>> SMITH: In Saudi, May 2017, President Trump gives a speech.

Human rights advocates and others have seen that as giving a green light to MBS to crack down on opposition within the country.

>> Certainly President Trump has not prioritized human rights as you might understand them in, say, a President Carter context, as a tool of statecraft.

The United States can lead by example.

And I think he wants to do that.

But I think he also saw in MBS somebody who wanted to improve the lives of everyday Saudis.

>> SMITH: You reject the notion that in any way the president's approach on human rights abroad... emboldened the Crown Prince or any other autocrat in the region?

>> I think what they do in that region, they do regardless of what the president says.

>> If you look at it, it's pretty clear.

He was unleashed right after the Trump visit.

Authoritarians are astute observers, and they will perceive the lack of conversation on human rights as a green light and a tacit approval to do whatever they wish.

>> SMITH: We talked to the son of the former intelligence chief of, of MBN... >> Mm-hmm.

>> SMITH: Al Jabri.

>> Mm-hmm.

He says, "If you look at it, it's pretty clear.

MBS was unleashed right after the Trump visit."

>> Mm.

>> SMITH: You think that's fair?

>> It's probably a little personalized, but I, I don't think it's spiritually incorrect.

Trump wanted that.

I don't think Trump has basically any opposition to crackdowns within societies.

He doesn't think that's America's business.

I think he goes further in that he may actually sympathize with the crackdowns themselves.

♪ ♪ >> SMITH: Just one month after Trump's visit, Mohammed bin Nayef was summoned to a meeting with MBS.

Saudi TV broadcast this carefully choreographed scene.

>> Essentially, what MBS did was make a show of kissing Mohammed bin Nayef's ring, as if he was being submissive.

>> (speaking Arabic): >> (speaking Arabic): >> Soon enough, MBN was imprisoned, stripped of his title as Crown Prince, and in comes MBS-- that was a moment I remember clearly as just a hinge moment.

Suddenly, Mohammed bin Salman not only has the passion for change, but this... (soldiers chanting) ...ability as Crown Prince to have the whip hand.

>> Mohammed bin Salman next in line for the throne.

The new Crown Prince is 31 years old... >> SMITH: MBS was now firmly in charge.

>> (indistinct shouting) >> SMITH: Within hours of the news, Trump called the Crown Prince to congratulate him.

Over the next year, dozens of men and women who were perceived as enemies of the state were rounded up, many thrown in prison.

Others were able to flee the country.

Saad Al Jabri would eventually escape to Canada, and his son, Khalid, had already moved to the U.S.

But two of his siblings were still in Riyadh.

>> You know, I'm from a big family.

My mom and dad, and you know, two girls and six boys.

All of us were outside the kingdom.

The only two that were remaining were my brother and sister, Sarah and Omar.

They were 16 and 17 at that point, just in Saudi, waiting for their... U.S.

student visa interview.

>> SMITH: So they could come for an education in the U.S... >> To-- yes, yes.

Yes, absolutely, and join me in Boston.

>> FAMILY: ♪ Happy birthday to you... ♪ (clapping) >> On the first day that Mohammed bin Salman became Crown Prince, in the airport, as they were trying to come to the U.S., they were told that you can't leave the kingdom.

And for us... we realized that, you know, as a family, we have a bullseye on our back.

Ultimately, my siblings were disappeared, and this March, it will be six years.

And nobody has seen them or visited them since then.

>> Terrible.

Unwarranted, unnecessary.

Totally.

Jabri was-- yes, he was a pain to Mohammed bin Salman.

He was a critic.

He was, you know, argumentative.

>> SMITH: But as you know, being a critic in a system... >> Totally.

>> SMITH: Is a healthy thing.

>> Yeah, it's totally unwarranted.

Totally unnecessary.

It would never have diminished MBS's power, authority, or leadership, to have those young people leave the country.

>> Not only did Mohammed bin Salman threaten former Saudi official Saad Al Jabri, and continue to torment and harass his family, continue to hold his two children hostage in Saudi Arabia, but there was also attempts and attacks on Saudi dissidents in London in the United Kingdom, including the head of a Saudi human rights organization, whose son was threatened by Saudi agents.

Hundreds of Saudi royals remain under travel ban in Saudi Arabia.

They cannot leave, for no reason at all, other than this is how you keep them quiet and complacent.

>> What has been described as a coordinated crackdown on dissent in the country... >> Saudi authorities have carried out... >> He is part of a monarchy, they are susceptible to opposition, although there's no history of that in Saudi Arabia, not like Iran or other places where people go out in the streets and protest, it just doesn't happen.

And maybe, maybe part of the reason that all this is done is to secure that kind of peace in the streets.

>> His tolerance for any kind of dissent was zero.

We in the West or the United States don't really... appreciate fully, how sensitive autocratic leaders in the Middle East are to their dissidents, and I think that in the case of Mohammed bin Salman, he was hyper-sensitive to the criticism.

>> SMITH: There are significant cultural and social reforms going forward in the kingdom.

Concerts, freedoms, social and cultural.

But politically, you've been cracking down on dissent.

>> I wouldn't characterize it as such; I think we have had a major, major program of reform.

>> SMITH: I interviewed Adel al-Jubeir in 2018.

He was then Saudi Arabia's Minister of Foreign Affairs.

>> His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is the driving force behind it, and he's opening up the country socially, and we're moving towards having a more accountable, more efficient, more transparent government.

The arrests that have taken place have taken place as a consequence of violations of the laws.

And these cases are now in the courts.

>> SMITH: There's no question that MBS was a modernizer.

But on the political front, on free speech, on the handling of dissidents, he was quite tough.

Many people were thrown into prisons, and there are those who say that it was... President Trump who emboldened the Crown Prince to know that he could get away with the crackdown that he imposed right after he became the Crown Prince.

>> I would take a different view on that.

I mean, I'm certainly not arguing that Saudi Arabia is a liberal democracy.

They're not, and nor do they wish to be.

Do I agree with every choice he made?

No, not necessarily.

>> SMITH: Was there a time during that period, during the crackdown, that the president or Kushner took the Crown Prince aside and said, "Hey, look, you've got to do a better job"?

>> Not to my knowledge.

I mean, they were very frank in the conversations I was party to about, about what they... their concerns.

But it was not a human rights issue, per se.

>> SMITH: As MBS's crackdown continued, a prominent Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, worried he'd be next.

>> Suddenly seeing that, uh-- journalists, writers, intellectuals, who were respected and tolerated in Saudi society and could write their views in various... Saudi newspapers no longer could.

And he was horrified by what was happening, but also afraid for himself.

>> SMITH: Initially, when MBS came to power, Khashoggi was encouraged by the talk of reform and modernization.

>> And he is seen as a savior by young Saudis and by me... >> Khashoggi was quite supportive at the beginning, with the loosening up of social life, right?

The removal of a lot of these... very onerous restrictions in terms of what you could do in public; particularly what women could do in public.

But the idea that this was not also paired with some loosening up of political rights, I think very much disappointed him.

>> SMITH: Khashoggi criticized MBS for his "overly enthusiastic embrace" of Trump.

MBS moved to silence him.

Khashoggi fled to the U.S.

At the time, Karen Attiah was an editor at "The Washington Post."

>> We were hearing the reports about the crackdown, and I saw Jamal Khashoggi's name being quoted in a few pieces about the situation.

And I just figured, "Well, why not reach out to him?"

And so I gave him a call.

>> SMITH: When Khashoggi settled in Washington D.C.

in 2017, I sat down to talk with him.

Before all our cameras were rolling, he spoke personally for a moment.

He told me he was uncertain about what he would do here.

>> So basically what I'm doing right now is just restructuring my life.

I don't want to be a dissident.

But in the same time I don't want to go back home, and also, I could be banned from traveling.

>> SMITH: Soon after, Khashoggi decided what to do.

He published his first column in "The Washington Post" in September 2017.

>> "Saudi Arabia wasn't always this repressive.

"Now it's unbearable.

"It is all quite shocking.

But this has not been business as usual in my country."

>> You know, when he started writing in the "Post," I think he wanted to believe that MBS was surrounded by people who were giving him bad advice.

And so, he was using that platform to try to speak directly to his leader, to give him advice like you would to a nephew, a young man who's starting out in his career and making some... taking some actions that are ill-advised.

And as time progressed, of course, he knew that MBS was being himself, very true to himself, and... the nature of his writing changed.

>> "Mohammed bin Salman... spoke of making our country more open..." "I have left my home, "my family and my job, "and I am raising my voice.

To do otherwise would betray those who languish in prison."

>> SMITH: Did you recognize at that point that there was any danger in this, for him?

>> Mortal danger?

No.

Personal sacrifices?

Yes, of course.

>> SMITH: Then came November 4, 2017.

Just five months into Mohammed bin Salman's rise to power.

>> Incredible times in Saudi Arabia.

>> Some of the detainees reportedly held here, Riyadh's glamourous Ritz-Carlton... >> Especially the older guard, are extremely worried by these changes that are happening very fast... >> The Crown Prince did something truly mind-boggling, which was to round up a number of his wealthy royal cousins and to more or less imprison them in The Ritz-Carlton Hotel.

It was kind of a shakedown.

He called it an anticorruption purge, but basically he was demanding that they turn over assets to him-- to the state, which is him-- in exchange for their freedom.

>> SMITH: Do you believe anybody was coerced physically at The Ritz-Carlton?

>> I don't know.

>> SMITH: It's possible.

>> Anything is possible.

All I can say is that the exercise was to bring in very senior members of the Saudi financial business community and say, "You have money which doesn't belong to you.

"It belongs to the Saudi people.

"We would like that back.

Now go out and live your life the way you did previously."

>> SMITH: President Trump weighed in, supporting the round-up.

I think the president tweeted something about these people who had been milking the kingdom, and they deserved, I guess-- the implication is they deserved what they got.

>> And that speaks to the point, that when you feel you have the endorsement of the United States, effectively you feel you have a carte blanche to pursue whatever you want, both domestically and regionally.

(jet engine roaring) >> Jared Kushner, about a week prior to this big event, had made a private, unusual, unannounced visit to Saudi Arabia at the Prince's desert retreat, and they apparently talked late into the night and even played video games together.

What they discussed, we don't actually know.

But there has been quite a bit of speculation, not all of which I can confirm, that those two events were correlated.

That the Prince in some way sought permission from Jared Kushner before carrying out this shakedown of the royal family, or perhaps... simply wanted to feel secure in his support within the White House before he moved ahead with this takeover.

>> SMITH: Well, certainly he was steeped in planning for this event.

This is not something that just was a one- or two-day planning event.

>> We don't know that he got permission from Jared Kushner.

But you're right; it's inconceivable that after Jared left, he thought on a whim, "Huh, why don't I round up the rest of my family and shake them down for billions of dollars?"

No, that was clearly in the works before that meeting in the desert with Jared Kushner.

>> SMITH: Do you know anything about that trip and what was discussed?

>> I was on that trip, um.

Usual topics of conversation, peace, stability, oil, money, you know, everything you would expect.

>> SMITH: What's been called the shakedown at the Ritz-Carlton.

That had to be in the works.

Did that come up?

>> No, I mean, I was with them for a very significant amount of time.

I can't speak to what, to the times I wasn't in the room, but I was in the room a very significant amount of the time.

>> SMITH: Writing in the "Washington Post," Khashoggi compared the Ritz interrogations to Hitler's Night of the Long Knives.

>> "What is absolutely clear "after Saturday's 'Night of the Long Knives' "is that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman "is centralizing all power "within his position as Crown Prince.

"Many of us living outside Saudi Arabia will not return home for fear of the same fate."

>> SMITH: There were reports of harsh treatment, beatings and even death.

>> I heard those reports, but I've never seen any, any reflection of that.

>> SMITH: You have no suspicion about beatings?

>> None whatsoever, none whatsoever.

>> SMITH: In the wake of the roundup, I pressed a former Saudi intelligence chief about it.

>> And the fact, that, that these people were put up in, in the Ritz-Carlton, to me indicates that the intention is, is not to... (chuckles) to inflict physical or emotional harm on them.

But rather to get to the truth.

>> SMITH: Like Kushner, I had a WhatsApp connection with MBS.

And just after the arrests at the Ritz-Carlton, I asked the Crown Prince if he would give me an interview.

♪ ♪ (seagulls squawking) The jailing of critics or dissidents is common enough, even among U.S.

allies, like Turkey or Egypt.

But no event sparked outrage as much as what happened in October of 2018.

That month, Jamal Khashoggi walked into the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul to pick up some paperwork for an upcoming wedding.

>> Jamal Khashoggi, he went missing on Tuesday, he went to the consulate building of Saudi Arabia... >> Speaking on Turkish television, Ms.

Cengiz explained that he was going to the consulate to collect documents for the marriage and for that she felt guilty... >> I had a WhatsApp group of some friends.

One of them shared a screenshot of a tweet by a Saudi exile who basically said Jamal Khashoggi had entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and hasn't appeared.

And my first reaction was like, "Please, don't let it be what I think it is."

>> SMITH: This is the room inside the consulate where Khashoggi was taken.

At first, the Kingdom's story was that he had walked out of the building alive and had gone missing somewhere in Turkey.

Turkish officials were furious.

>> They're, like, instead of their providing answers to us, they're actually saying that, "Uh-oh, It's your problem now.

He's missing in Turkey."

That was a tipping point for Turkish officials.

>> SMITH: At the pro-government Turkish newspaper "Sabah," reporters started getting details from Turkish intelligence and the police.

Nazif Karaman.

>> (speaking Turkish): >> SMITH: By the time the reporters had learned about the two Saudi planes, the jets had left Istanbul.

But they learned of a recording.

>> I just couldn't come to myself for a couple of minutes.

I just couldn't believe the fact that they cut him into pieces.

>> SMITH: In Washington, President Trump and his advisors were deciding how they were going to react.

>> The reaction, obviously, was blowing up around the world and we had to decide what our posture would be, to decide what we thought the cause of the murder had been.

And I was surprised to find, almost immediately, without discussion, that Trump had decided that we were going to stick with the Saudis on it, not berate them in public, but that we were going to support the Saudis.

>> SMITH: I talked to John Bolton and he said that immediately the president said, "Look, we're staying with Saudi Arabia."

There was no talk of doing anything, really, about it.

He said, look, and he said "I was shocked."

>> That is John's characterization.

I don't recall him expressing any of that to me.

You know, it sort of culminates in this statement from the president, a public statement on this, in which, you know, he says, "We all decry what happened in that consulate in Istanbul.

"But I cannot put the security "of the American people at risk over one incident that I disapprove of."

I consider that to be one of the most important statements that explains what America First means to him.

And I know it came directly from him.

>> SMITH: I texted MBS.

No response.

A few days later, I tried again.

Again, no response.

But that same day, MBS answered a call from Jared Kushner and John Bolton.

>> Jared had him on his cell phone.

>> SMITH: And recount that conversation, what you said to the Crown Prince and what he said in response?

>> Well, I said my advice would be to find out what the facts were, and get it all out as quickly as possible and get it behind us.

>> SMITH: How did he respond to that?

>> I think he sounded affirmative.

>> SMITH: Two weeks after Khashoggi's disappearance, the Saudis changed their story and said he'd been murdered in a rogue operation and that MBS knew nothing about it.

How is it possible that Mohammad bin Salman did not know of this operation?

>> It's very unlikely he did not know of at least a rendition.

I can easily imagine that the decision making might've been as simple as saying, "We have this dissident.

"We will conduct a rendition operation from Istanbul," and being told, "Go ahead."

>> SMITH: So you have contacts within Saudi Arabia at high levels that tell you that this was a rendition?

>> Yes.

>> SMITH: The Saudis insisted they were investigating who was responsible for the murder.

You're saying that this is being investigated by the public prosecutor?

>> Yes.

>> SMITH: But at the same time, you have declared it a rogue operation.

So you've reached a conclusion that this was a rogue operation before the investigation is complete?

>> Of course it's a rogue operation.

Nobody authorized this.

Who would authorize the murder of a citizen in our own consulate?

>> SMITH: How do we know until there is an investigation?

>> It seems to me that you have made up your mind before you watched the legal process-- >> SMITH: No, you've made up your mind that it's a rogue operation-- >> It is-- it is a rogue operation because there is no authorization for them to commit this crime.

There was no authorization for them to commit this crime.

That's why it's a rogue operation.

>> Have you heard that tape?

And does it conclusively point to the Crown Prince as ordering the killing of Jamal Khashoggi?

>> No, I haven't listened to it.

And I guess I should ask you, why do you think I should?

What do you think I'll learn from it?

>> Well, you're the National Security Advisor, >> What was the tape going to tell you?

He was dead at the time.

>> SMITH: He was dead at the time, but we, we know that the guys that carried out the murder at the time, um... ...were reporting back to the royal court.

>> I don't speak Arabic.

>> SMITH: Yeah, but you work, your-- you work with translators.

>> I know what was on the tape.

I just didn't feel I had to listen to it.

I just think that's violence porn.

Well, you know, you can, you can decide to get into the specifics of it, or you can do basically what Trump did, which is to say we're going to stick with the kingdom and the, you know, the commentators can commentate.

>> SMITH: That we had to consider our interests over the death of-- the murder of this one guy.

>> Assuming everything turned out to be contrary to what the official line was, it was still an American interest to keep the relationship with the Saudis.

>> Saudi Arabia was always an absolute monarchy.

It's a hyper-centralized state.

Nothing good or bad can happen without at least the knowledge of people at the top of the pyramid.

I think that's, you know, fair to say.

Also, as a physician, why do you send a forensic pathologist to a crime scene?

If you want to, if you want to drug somebody, send an anesthetist.

They're pretty good with I.V.s, they know them.

But, like, sending somebody who only deals with dead bodies, kind of gives it up.

>> SMITH: MBS had stopped answering my texts, so two-and-a-half months after the murder, I went to see him.

He was at a car race just outside of Riyadh, surrounded by friends.

(indistinct chatter, laughter) I asked him about Khashoggi's murder.

My camera was outside, but he said, "it happened under my watch."

"I get all the responsibility, because it happened under my watch."

"I really take it very seriously."

"I don't want to tell you, no, I didn't do it, or I did do it, or whatever."

"That's just words."

I then asked him how it could happen without him knowing about it "Accidents happen.

Can you imagine?

"We have 20 million people.

"We have 3 million government employees.

"I am not Google or a supercomputer to watch over 3 million."

I asked, they can take one of your planes?

"I have officials, ministers, to follow things, "and they're responsible, they have the authority to do that."

He didn't say much more.

But when the C.I.A.

finished their investigation, they concluded that the Crown Prince had ordered either a kidnapping or a murder.

>> Trump's first response is to basically accept his friend's word, right?

His friend MBS, the Crown Prince, says he didn't do it.

He must not have done it then.

Except here you have the same thing where the C.I.A.

says, no, we actually have got an assessment here.

Our assessment says this was, in fact, an authorized operation by the Saudi government, and it was authorized, we believe, by the Crown Prince himself.

And Trump dismisses that.

This is a problem for him.

Does it make it harder for him to do the things he wants to do?

Does it make MBS politically radioactive in a way that will interfere with Trump's own, you know, strategic goals for the region?

And it does for a while.

>> They do point out certain things, and in pointing out those things you can conclude that maybe he did or maybe he didn't.

But that was another part of the false reporting.

>> By the way, I've seen C.I.A.

assessments that were wrong.

Many times.

And you have MBS who said, he didn't do it.

You know, I'm not a judge, I'm not a jury.

I don't know what happened.

>> SMITH: What did it do to your efforts to draw Saudi Arabia closer to Israel?

Did it have any impact?

>> I don't think so.

I mean, terrible thing though it was, we still have to do business, right?

>> SMITH: Did you talk with the Crown Prince afterwards?

>> We met him many times afterwards.

Things were still going on until I left the White House at the end of 2019.

We had plenty of conversations.

>> SMITH: Did you ask him directly about the murder?

>> Not my role to do that.

>> SMITH: What is the meaning for Americans of Trump's protection of Mohammed bin Salman?

>> We stand for something as a country.

>> SMITH: Like free speech.

>> Free speech.

For Trump to so boldly excuse and embrace a leader... ...who murdered, in the most gruesome way you can imagine, one of his own people, for simply writing columns.

For our president to... turn his back on that, we are a beacon.

We remain a beacon.

And that's what it should mean to Americans.

>> Are you letting the Saudis get away with murder?

>> No, no.

No, no.

This is about America First.

They're paying us $400 billion-plus to purchase and invest in our country.

We are with Saudi Arabia.

We're staying with Saudi Arabia.

Have a good time everybody, thank you.

>> SMITH: Trump was staying with Saudi Arabia.

But MBS found himself unwelcome in the West for years to come.

(clapping) In 2020, before leaving office, Trump announced some progress in getting Arab states to recognize Israel.

>> After decades of division and conflict, we mark the dawn of a new Middle East.

(applause) In a few moments, these visionary leaders will sign the first two peace deals between Israel and the Arab state in more than a quarter century.

>> SMITH: First, the U.A.E.

and Bahrain signed peace deals under what were called the Abraham Accords.

Morocco and Sudan would soon follow.

But Kushner and his team were not able to convince the Saudis.

Once in office, President Biden would continue pressing the Saudis to join the Abraham Accords.

(seagulls squawking) Soon after Trump's first term ended, Jared Kushner moved to Florida.

>> Two days after the election, Jared Kushner woke up and told Ivanka, "Hey, we're moving to Miami."

>> Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner purchased a two-acre waterfront lot for $32 million.

>> Indian Creek Island... >> ...is the most expensive neighborhood in America.

>> SMITH: And here he established a new company, Affinity Partners.

>> What surprised me was that instead of going back into real estate, Jared Kushner went into a new business, which is private equity, quite a lucrative business.

And his first step was reaching out to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to help fund his new private equity business.

>> SMITH: Initially, the board overseeing Saudi Arabia's investments through the Kingdom's Public Investment Fund, was reluctant.

>> The advisory committee, who are the leading lights of Saudi investment world, as well as a couple of international businessmen that they've brought in thought that it was a bad idea.

>> Why would this massive fund that has access to every investment organization in the world look at the landscape and say, "Let's go with this young fellow "who's never really done this kind of work before, "and let's put $2 billion in his pocket and see what he can do with it."

>> SMITH: Board minutes outlined their concerns.

>> "These risks have been flagged... including the risk "of... having limited experience in private equity "and the inability for Affinity to provide any quantifiable investment track-record."

>> Despite all of these negative opinions from that panel of advisors, the Crown Prince, who chairs the board that governs the Public Investment Fund, nonetheless said, "Thumbs up."

>> SMITH: Was that payback?

Or was it a bet on the future?

What was it?

>> We can only guess as to the motivation, but it kind of speaks for itself, right?

You know, Jared had been instrumental in protecting them from consequences from the Jamal Khashoggi murder, and perhaps they saw a future Trump administration coming back.

>> Jared Kushner.

>> SMITH: In this Q&A forum, Kushner was asked about whether the Khashoggi murder made him at all wary of taking Saudi money.

>> Lots and lots of private equity firms, other folks are trying to raise money from Saudi Arabia.

Some, however, stopped after the Jamal Khashoggi murder.

>> Are we really still doing this, Dan?

>> Yeah, absolutely.

>> I mean, okay, so let's go to this.

I have not seen the DNI report that the Biden administration put out there, right?

And number two is, look, I know the person who I dealt with.

I think he's a visionary leader.

I think what he's done in that region is transformational.

>> SMITH: At the time, the Saudi Sovereign Wealth or Public Investment Fund, the P.I.F., made a slew of other aggressive investments.

>> P.I.F.

is one of the world's largest and fastest growing sovereign wealth funds.

The United States is P.I.F.

's most important market outside of Saudi Arabia.

P.I.F.

is invested in better.

>> One of the big things that Mohammed bin Salman did when he came in was take a very, very conservative sovereign wealth policy.

And he turned it into a major, right now, trillion dollars in assets, a player in the world, sovereign wealth funds.

>> Mohammed bin Salman, particularly in the wake of the ostracism that he faced after the murder of Khashoggi, massively expanded investments in U.S.

businesses, um, reflect both the kingdom's desire to globally become players and use the state's assets, the Saudi people's assets, to buy diverse assets around the world.

But also as a leverage of influence and control.

>> In the modern times, you don't need an army, you need a sovereign wealth fund.

And, um, that really is, quite true, I think, if you're, if you're a small country, especially.

They have these big funds, and it's kind of how they wield influence and power in the world.

>> In the Trump administration, you had a really close relationship with the president's senior advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner after he left.

>> SMITH: The Crown Prince was asked about the propriety of his investment on Fox News.

>> Do you think that sends the wrong message even if there wasn't a tit for tat and, you know, I'll give you this and you get that.

>> We look to opportunities and investment.

We have investment, a lot of investment around the globe with a lot of peoples and with economic opportunity.

>> So if Trump becomes president again, you'll leave the $2 billion with Jared Kushner?

>> It's, it's a, it's a commitment that P.I.F.

have, and when P.I.F.

have commitment with any investor around the globe, keep it.

>> SMITH: Kushner was not the only bet MBS made.

He wasn't alone.

Steve Mnuchin also walks into a billion dollars.

>> Steve Mnuchin, the treasury secretary, also walks into Saudi and gets a billion dollar investment.

It's like a piggy bank for former American officials.

>> SMITH: It's incredible.

>> It's incredible-- and normally, would be the cause of a great storm of controversy, and there would be hearings, there would be, you know, investigations, there would certainly be a lot of commentary and criticism, and it kind of came and went.

>> SMITH: Mnuchin and Kushner have brushed off concerns about conflicts of interest.

They were private citizens at the time.

(cheering) >> Breaking news, we are projecting at this hour, the 47th President of the United States, Donald Trump.

>> The former President's comeback will be complete with a win in Wisconsin... >> America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate.

>> An extraordinary political comeback.

Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Russia, all very pleased.

>> SMITH: After Trump was re-elected in 2024, Kushner would eventually again became a senior advisor to the president focused on Middle East diplomacy.

At the time, his firm, Affinity Partners was reportedly taking in tens of millions of dollars a year in fees from the Saudis.

Kushner says he did not take any salary from the U.S.

government for his work.

What's the danger of taking Saudi money?

What's the danger to ordinary Americans?

Why should they care?

>> First of all, if Jared Kushner was a private citizen engaged only in private business, I wouldn't be particularly concerned.

The fact that he's still, uh, effectively on the Saudi payroll while making decisions about whatever it is that the U.S.

decides to do, uh, while so entangled with the Saudi government, is a very basic conflict of interest.

>> SMITH: But what do you say to those who say that this is just a glaring conflict of interest?

>> I would say that the records of the company, you should-- are open, and that if you see any kind of... ...illegal activity, it should be investigated.

I've seen no evidence of that.

>> SMITH: But it doesn't have to be illegal to be, um, a conflict of interest.

There's certainly an appearance problem here.

>> There may well be an appearance problem, but I mean, then it's been a problem for, I guess, ten years now, and that didn't prevent the American people from resoundingly re-electing President Trump in 2024.

>> How did the White House decide that it is appropriate for Jared Kushner to be working on matters that involve Qatar, the U.A.E., Saudi Arabia, three countries that combined have given him more than $2.5 billion for his investment firm?

>> I think it's, um, frankly despicable that you're trying to suggest that it's inappropriate for Jared Kushner, who is widely respected around the world and has great trust and relationships with these critical partners in these countries and so Jared is donating his energy and his time to our government, to the president of the United States to secure world peace.

And that is a very noble thing.

>> SMITH: You're critical of the work that Kushner was doing?

>> For sure.

Yeah, I mean, it's very hard to argue that Kushner's involvement in politics has been net good for the administration or net good for the United States.

I think he is using his cards to very potentially line his own pocket.

I mean, this is not Burisma, right?

This is, like, this is not Hunter Biden stuff.

This is serious money.

>> SMITH: During the second Trump term, Trump's two sons, Don Jr.

and Eric, also started receiving money from Saudi sources.

They announced two developments in the capital, Riyadh, and a tower rising along the skyline of Jeddah.

Each one carrying the Trump brand.

>> Trump International, the ultimate postcode.

>> Don Jr.

described it as almost free money.

They just say, you can put my name on this thing.

You're going to give us a big upfront fee, and if the thing's successful, you'll give us a piece of the profits in the out years.

>> SMITH: In a press release, Eric Trump said the Trump Organization, which he manages with his brother Don Jr., is "dedicated not just to meeting, but vastly exceeding its legal and ethical obligations."

The sole owner of the Trump Organization is the President, and by law he's not subject to conflict of interest statutes.

(applause) Trump has said he's removed himself from the operations of the company, and promised to donate some profits back to the U.S.

Treasury.

>> In the first term, they actually foresaw all international deals, and yet they raked them through the coals.

I think this time, Eric Trump was probably the one who said this, if we gave up billions of dollars and still got raked through the coals, and it's legal for me to do this, why shouldn't I do it?

I think that's a reasonable position.

If they're not breaking the law, why should they be rewarded with making less money just because President Trump is the president and they are happened to be his sons?

>> SMITH: But the increase in Trump's personal wealth from an array of sources inlcuding Saudi deals and others, like crypto, has been estimated in the billions.

>> This amount is greater than the sum total of everything Donald Trump received for being on "The Apprentice," for licensing deals coming from "The Apprentice," for his inheritance and for his best lucky investment.

So that's more in one year than he received from the best financial pots of gold of his life over a 25-year period, all coming all at once.

And the idea that that's not broken through, and that there's not examinations into that going on is really historically stunning, and I think also a testimony to where our Congress is right now.

>> President Trump, you're generally regarded to be the wealthiest man who's ever occupied the White House.

>> I hope so.

>> How much wealthier are you now than when you returned to the White House?

>> Well, I don't know.

The deals I made, for the most part, other than what my kids are doing, you know, they're running my business.

But most of the deals that I've made were made before.

And that's what I've done for a life.

>> But you are also... >> You know what the activity-- where are you from?

>> I'm from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, "Four Corners" program.

>> Australia's, you're hurting Australia, right?

In my opinion, you are hurting Australia very much right now.

>> President Trump.

>> I'm going to tell them about you.

You set a very bad tone-- go ahead, John.

>> When the U.A.E.

does a deal like that, when the U.A.E.

does a deal, what does it want in return?

>> Quiet.

>> Donald Trump campaigned on a no new wars pledge.

>> Everything is about America First.

>> SMITH: Despite all of Trump's business success in the Middle East... >> America's best interests... >> SMITH: ...peace in the region has remained as elusive as ever.

>> He was very clear: no new wars.

(distant gunshots) >> Hamas has launched a surprise attack within Israel's borders, at least 100 taken hostage.

(motorcycle revving) >> SMITH: October 7, 2023, President Biden was finally getting close to a deal between Israel and the Saudis under the Abraham Accords.

(gunshots) When Hamas mounted an assault on Israel.

>> An unprecedented, multi-pronged terror attack.

>> SMITH: Some 1,200 people were slaughtered, 251 were taken hostage.

>> A deep, deep wound in Israel.

>> The worst slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust.

>> SMITH: Kushner's plan for a Saudi-Israel alliance was shattered.

>> The October 7 attacks, as we know, upended the entire region.

Israel was badly attacked, and then Israel begins their military campaign against Gaza... (explosion) ...with overwhelming force.

(explosions) (indistinct chatter) (woman screaming) Leading to the deaths of thousands of Palestinians, and... there was no way in that environment that Saudi Arabia and Israel were going to be able to make, formally make a peace deal.

There was just, uh... the public opposition would have been through the roof.

>> MBS reacted to the Gaza war, understandably, in some ways, thinking, I just don't feel comfortable aligning with an Israel that's, that's been so repressive against Palestinian population, certainly the public in Saudi Arabia supported that.

>> SMITH: Two months into the war, the very day that Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump visited a destroyed Kibbutz near Gaza, a rare poll from Saudi Arabia was released.

(indistinct chatter) It showed that 96% of Saudis supported cutting all ties with Israel in protest over Israel's bombing campaign in Gaza.

The Crown Prince got the message.

>> (speaking Arabic): >> Among the Saudi youth, this issue is extremely important.

And so he knew that there are certain limits to how far he can push with normalization as long as he cannot deliver what he said he needs to deliver for the Palestinians.

>> MBS keeps his ear to the street.

He knows what his constituencies are thinking.

If you have an environment in which Palestinians are being killed in large numbers in Gaza, the idea that MBS, just because he saw strategic value in a normalization deal, could just jam it on his population was never true.

>> SMITH: Some observers put the blame on Kushner's Abraham Accords.

>> I think the clear flaw from the beginning of the Abraham Accords was it did nothing to settle the fate of the Palestinian people.

I don't think the Abraham Accords happen without Jared Kushner.

But if there was any leading intellectual critique of them, it was that they abandoned Palestine.

They abandoned the Palestinian people.

>> SMITH: Curt Mills of "American Conservative" laid the events of October 7 at the feet of Jared Kushner.

>> Well, that's completely inconsistent with my experience with Jared.

Jared is sincerely interested in the future of the Palestinian people and worked hard to come up with a deal that would be satisfactory because, you know, in his mind, to my understanding, this is also the best thing for Israel.

>> SMITH: What was in the Abraham Accords for the Palestinians?

>> Specifically, nothing.

But if they had actually put their hand up and said, "Hey, we can be the glue here.

"We know Israel.

We know the Arabs.

"We speak Hebrew, some of us.

"We speak Arabic.

We could be great partners here for everybody."

That would have been a huge benefit to them.

Every which way we ever dealt with the Palestinians, they were never interested-- the leadership, not the people.

They weren't interested in talking to us anymore.

>> Significant U.S.

military assets... >> Aircraft carrier U.S.S.

Abraham Lincoln... >> Is the U.S.

about to strike Iran?

>> It looks like we're positioning assets... >> SMITH: A year into Trump's second term, the region was heading towards its biggest escalation yet.

An all-out war with Iran, Hamas' chief sponsor, and Israel's mortal enemy.

>> A short time ago, the United States military began major combat operations in Iran.

Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime.

>> SMITH: Despite having pledged no new wars, in early 2026, Trump joined Israel, and went to war against Iran.

>> They've rejected every opportunity to renounce their nuclear ambitions.

Instead, they attempted to rebuild their nuclear program and to continue developing long-range missiles.

(explosion) >> SMITH: Do you think that Mohammed bin Salman wanted this war?

>> Based on what I know of him and how he thinks, I don't think he wanted this war.

I don't think in any way this war helps Saudi Arabia.

Obviously, it's not helping to move their oil.

Uh, it's not helping their economy.

>> SMITH: But once the war started, MBS was in a bind.

>> Once it starts, MBS is calling constantly to push Donald Trump to finish the job.

At key moments when Trump is considering pulling back, MBS is counseling... ...a more aggressive stance.

>> SMITH: How many calls did MBS make to Trump, urging him to continue?

Approximately?

>> I know of at least three during a one week period before the ceasefire.

But I am sure that it's far more than that.

MBS was pushing for a tougher line, for a continuation of this war.

>> SMITH: Then as the war dragged on, MBS saw the damage Saudi Arabia was incurring.

He denies he ever urged Trump to continue.

We hear that he's calling Donald Trump many times in a week and telling him to finish the job and keep it up.

>> I think they're confounded about what to do, like my sense is, truly they didn't want this war.

And now we're seeing what happened.

(explosion) They're getting rockets and drones attacking their energy infrastructure, potentially civilian population centers.

They're not sure what the United States is going to do about it.

So I think it injects a huge amount of uncertainty in the relationship that was needless.

>> SMITH: I can only imagine that Kushner is sobered by what's unfolded since 2017.

>> Definitely has to be sobered.

But look, he's a super ambitious guy.

He does not give up easily, and... you could also understand, you could also see that he sees grains of hope, of something that seemed, you know, impossible in 2024 being achievable in 2027.

He has kept at this, and there's no evidence he's let the dream die.

>> SMITH: While the war in Iran was still raging, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund hosted a conference in the heart of Miami.

Don Trump Jr., Steve Mnuchin, and Jared Kushner were there.

The purpose of the meeting was to promote business ties.

President Trump headlined the conference.

>> Tonight, we're closer than ever to the rise of the Middle East.

>> SMITH: In a speech lasting over 70 minutes, he declared victory over Iran.

>> For 47 years, Iran has been known as the bully of the Middle East.

But they are not the bully any longer.

They're on the run.

>> SMITH: He praised the U.S.-Saudi relationship.

>> It all started with our historic visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

>> SMITH: And singled out the Crown Prince.

>> I want to thank my friend, the Crown Prince Mohammed, who is a fantastic man and a great friend of mine.

And a friend of all of yours, I think.

(applause) >> SMITH: The future, he said, was bright.

>> I'm confident that this partnership will continue to grow and thrive because under President Trump, America once again fights and competes.

But one thing, we fight to win.

We fight for justice and we fight to win.

♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: Go to pbs.org/frontline for more of Martin Smith’s reporting.

>> I have covered the U.S.-Saudi relationship for over 20 years.

>> NARRATOR: See his prior coverage of MBS and Saudi Arabia >> How do we know until there is an investigation?

>> It seems to me, that you have made up your mind before you- >> No, you’ve made up your mind that it’s a rogue operation.

>> NARRATOR: Connect with FRONTLINE on Facebook and Instagram and stream anytime on the PBS app, YouTube or pbs.org/frontline.

Captioned by Media Access Group at WGBH access.wgbh.org >> For more on this and other "FRONTLINE" programs, visit our website at pbs.org/frontline.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ FRONTLINE's "The Crown Prince & The President" is available on Amazon Prime Video.

♪ ♪