U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz continued his criticism of President Joe Biden for doing little to hold the Saudi government accountable for the murder of three U.S. troops in Pensacola in 2019.
“Fist bumps with the Saudis don’t convey a sense of seriousness in seeking justice for the victims of the NAS [Naval Air Station] Pensacola attack on U.S. soil,” the Fort Walton Beach Republican told The Center Square on Tuesday.
“Joe Biden’s visit did nothing to reinforce American resilience. It only proved how fast he’s willing to kneel to the Saudis in order to prevent American independence from foreign reliance.”
Gaetz was referring to Biden’s swing through the Middle East over the weekend, which included a trip to Saudi Arabia and a meeting with that nation’s leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, or MBS.
As a candidate, Biden declared he would undo former President Donald Trump’s cautious friendliness toward the Saudis and turn the country into a global “pariah.”
But Biden changed course as his policies drove gas prices to unprecedented heights.
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His visit to Saudi was to encourage Middle Eastern oil producers to churn out more oil in an effort to lower fuel prices. Even his liberal allies turned on him after the fist bump, which itself was a reversal of Biden’s stated pledge to avoid physical contact due to concerns about COVID-19. Libs trashed Biden for the intimate greeting, saying it betrayed the memory of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post who was killed by the Saudi regime in 2018.
Before Biden departed, Gaetz argued in an opinion column in the Pensacola News-Journal that the president needed to hold the Saudis accountable for an impotent vetting process that allowed Saudi Royal Air Force pilot Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani to travel to NAS Pensacola.
The radicalized pilot subsequently killed three sailors – Ensign Joshua Kaleb Watson, Airman Apprentice Cameron Walters, and Airman Mohammed Haitham – and injured many others before an Escambia County sheriff’s deputy killed him.
As The Free Press posted last week, Gaetz has recently argued that Biden must criticize the Saudis for their failure to “neutralize” terrorism, or root out elements within their government that turn a blind eye toward it.
As for Biden, Gaetz added, he “must not forget what happened in Pensacola, or it will happen again.”
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