Politics

Eric Trump On Saudi Arabia: ‘We Have To Be Honest With Ourselves … We Don’t Have All That Many Friends In The Middle East’

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Nick Givas Media And Politics Reporter
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President Donald Trump’s son Eric Trump appeared on Fox News’ “Outnumbered” Friday to discuss Saudi Arabia and said the U.S. has to be honest about how few friends it has in the Middle East.

“I think it’s tough right, you can’t have journalists getting murdered,” Eric Trump said. (RELATED: Judge Napolitano Argues US Could Legally Kidnap The Saudis Involved In Murder Of Khashoggi)

“And the way they did it was obviously savage and awful and you had 15 people go through and I mean God knows what actually happened in that room but whatever happened was clearly awful,” he continued. “At the same time, I mean I think we have to be honest with ourselves that as America we face a little bit of a problem, in that we don’t have all that many friends in the Middle East.”

WATCH:

Saudi Arabia has come under heavy scrutiny after Saudi journalist and Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi went missing. He is now presumed to have been tortured and killed for his dissenting views against the government.

Eric Trump argued the structural and financial dealings between the two countries shouldn’t be dissolved because of Khashoggi’s death, because a continued relationship would create tens of thousands of U.S. jobs and ultimately help maintain stability in the Middle East.

“Saudi Arabia has actually been a friend to the U.S. in many ways, right? They’re ordering from us massive, massive orders — hundreds of billions of dollars worth of arms and various things, which will create tens and tens of thousands of jobs. And so you cannot be executing journalists, or anybody else,” he said, adding:

“It’s behavior that is savage and everything else. At the same time, I mean who are our friends of the Middle East? The UAE, Israel … So what are you going to do? You’re going to take that and you’re going to throw all of that away? I don’t mean to be binary with this. One action is not acceptable, but like it leaves the country in a very tough predicament.”

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