First Lady Melania Trump stunned in a strapless emerald dress – to match Saudi Arabia’s flag – as she joined President Donald Trump in hosting Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for an ornate dinner in the East Room Tuesday night.
The first lady joined Trump at the White House as he announced that Saudi Arabia would be elevated to ‘major non-NATO ally’ and that a strategic defense compact had been signed. That distinction has only been given to 20 countries, as well as Taiwan.
He also lauded the crown prince for pledging to invest $1 trillion in the U.S.
Weather in Washington had turned cold and rainy, but Mrs. Trump remained poised, holding hands with the president as MBS’ black car pulled up.
The 55-year-old’s choice of dress – a $3,350 coated emerald jersey strapless gown from Elie Saab – appeared to be a subtle show of support for MBS.
The crown prince’s return to the White House has been controversial due to the 2018 killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and Saudi Arabia’s role in the September 11 terror attacks.
It also comes as Trump is under political fire over pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, with the Saudis visit coinciding with votes to release the Epstein files in both the House and the Senate.
Trump has said he will sign the bill, but the dinner appeared to impact the timing.
MBS attended the dinner solo, but was joined by a Saudi delegation and a number of U.S. business leaders including Elon Musk – marking his return to the White House after his dramatic falling out with Trump in June.
Soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo was also invited, attending alongside FIFA President Gianni Infantino. Others packed into the East Room included Donald Trump Jr. and girlfriend Bettina Anderson, Tiffany Trump and husband Michael Boulos, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Fox News’ Bret Baier and Maria Bartiromo.
Business leaders on hand included Apple’s Tim Cook, Charles Schwab, General Motors’ Mary Barra, Pfizer’s Albert Bourla, CBS News’ David Ellison, Palantir’s Alex Karp, Blackstone Group’s Stephen Schwarzman, CitiGroup’s Jane Fraser, as well as Ross Perot Jr., the son the late independent presidential candidate Ross Perot, among others.
‘I only wish we had about 2,000 more seats,’ Trump commented when giving the toast, pledging to host the Saudis for a second dinner once his gilded ballroom was finished in about two years, the president estimated.
The Saudi visit already took a tense turn, as there were fireworks between the president and the press in the Oval Office earlier Tuesday afternoon.
ABC News’ Mary Bruce asked the president about the Trump Organization’s real estate projects in the gulf nation – and whether they represented a conflict of interest – and then turned her attention to the crown prince.
She asked him about the 2018 death of Khashoggi.
Bruce cited U.S. intelligence agencies when saying to MBS ‘you orchestrated the brutal murder of a journalist’ and also noted that ‘9/11 families are furious that you’re here in the Oval Office.’
‘Why should Americans trust you?’ she asked, with Trump asking, ‘Who are you with?’ throughout her inquiry.
The president answered for MBS.
‘You’re mentioning someone that was extremely controversial,’ he said of Khashoggi, whose writings were extremely critical of the Saudi royal family, including MBS.
‘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,’ Trump said of the crown prince.
‘You don’t have to embarrass our guest,’ the president added.
Trump blew up at the journalist a second time, even threatening to pull ABC’s license, when she asked a follow-up on the Epstein files.
‘It’s not the question that I mind, it’s your attitude,’ Trump snapped. ‘I think you’re a terrible reporter,’ he added, calling her an ‘insubordinate.’
MBS answered the Khashoggi inquiry by saying that it was ‘really painful to hear anyone losing his life for no real purpose or not in a legal way.’
‘And it’s been painful for us in Saudi Arabia. We did all the right steps of investigation, etc., in Saudi Arabia. And we’ve improved our system to be sure that nothing happened like that,’ the crown prince added.
Trump’s warm welcome – which included a military flyover and a parade of horses – received criticism, especially due to it being a splitscreen moment with the Epstein-related vote.
‘With the coincidence this afternoon of the vote in the House of Representatives and the visit of MBS to the White House, it feels like a clarifying moment: On one side, Trump, Epstein and MBS. On the other, those who respect decency and honor humanity,’ wrote the Bulwark’s Bill Kristol, a Republican critic of Trump.
Representative Ro Khanna, a California Democrat behind the Epstein bill alongside Kentucky Republican Representative Thomas Massie, called attention to Trump’s meeting with MBS on the House floor.
‘Right now, Trump is meeting the Saudi prince MBS,’ Khanna said. ‘That’s not America First To me, America First means meeting with Epstein survivors to make sure American girls will not be raped.’
