MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell argued Monday there is “no other way to interpret” Saudi Arabian King Salman skipping out on the Arab leaders summit at Camp David than as “a snub.”
“The White House trying to claim this is not a snub, certainly the Saudis are saying this is not a snub, but there is no other way to interpret it,” Mitchell told the Associated Press’ Julie Pace on “Mitchell Reports.”
“Yea, it’s a really confusing situation because on Friday, you actually had the White House announcing that the king was coming, not just for the summit, but also for a bilateral meeting with the president on Wednesday,” Pace told the longtime NBC News correspondent. “They announced that on Friday. And then on Sunday, we hear from the Saudis that the king is actually not coming. So it’s hard to really understand how the White House could get confused on this. How they could have gotten wrong information about the king’s plans.”
“But they say this is not a matter of substance. That there are Saudi officials that are coming who have good relations with the White House and will be represented,” Pace said. “But it just adds to this impression that this summit just isn’t going to have the gravitas and the significance that the president would hope.”
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[h/t: RealClearPolitics]