Well, Steve Mnuchin has decided he won’t attend Mohammed bin Salman’s much ballyhooed Future Investment Initiative.
Mnuchin’s decision to pull out comes in light of recent events, where “events” means the host of the summit stands accused by the international community of instructing 15 assassins to drug, murder and dismember a journalist with a bone saw.
Steve took to Twitter on Thursday morning to deliver the news:
Just met with @realDonaldTrump and @SecPompeo and we have decided, I will not be participating in the Future Investment Initiative summit in Saudi Arabia.
— Steven Mnuchin (@stevenmnuchin1) October 18, 2018
Mnuchin’s reverse RSVP is the latest in a string of similar announcements.
Bin Salman’s “Davos in the Desert” looks increasingly likely to be a historic bust given the number of high profile names that are now set to effectively boycott the event out of respect for slain dissident Jamal Khashoggi.
But lest you should think the Trump administration is prepared to issue a wholesale condemnation of the Kingdom, Mike Pompeo (fresh from a jaunt through the Mideast) told reporters on Thursday that the White House is still unsure of the “facts” surrounding Khashoggi’s demise.
That’s right. If we just give bin Salman “a few more days”, he can “dismember” all the evidence.
