“We believe there are more effective ways to ensure this does not happen again and also to be able to leave room to work with the Saudis on areas where there is mutual agreement – where there are national interests for the United States. That ‘s what diplomacy looks like, “Psaki told CNN’ s Dana Bash on” State of the Union “when asked why the administration is punishing people under the crown prince but not him.
“That is what complex global communications look like and we have not made any secrets and we have been clear that we are going to hold them to account on the global stage and with direct actions, “said Psaki, who cited Khashoggi ‘s 2018 murder as a” horrific crime. ”
Biden told the White House on Saturday that there will be news on Monday “about what we are going to do with Saudi Arabia in general.” He also told Univision on Friday that he was now dealing with the Saudi King and not bin Salman, says the rules are “changing” in US relations with the Saudis.
White House communications director Kate Bedingfield said on Sunday that Biden’s forthcoming news was not a “new policy announcement, but an” explanation “of Friday’s actions.
“Tomorrow, the State Department is going to issue a complete package, if you will, walking through all the actions taken by the administration on Friday,” she told MSNBC.
Bedingfield also defended the administration’s decision not to impose control on MBS, saying “historically, the United States has not imposed sanctions on the sovereignty of countries with which we have diplomatic relations,” “including Russian and Chinese leaders.
Democrat Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware later told Bash on “State of the Union” that the administration is “not yet down to rebalancing the relationship between the United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” adding that “the balance of rights humanitarian welfare and regional security and security as part of the hard work of diplomacy. ”
But Coons would not say Sunday if he thought the crown prince should be punished directly for Khashoggi’s death, telling Bash instead that he is looking forward “to having ongoing talks with the administration of this matter. ”
This story was updated with additional details on Sunday.
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Kevin Liptak, Vivian Salama, Kylie Atwood and DJ Judd contributed to this report.