Former vice president Joe Biden pledged Wednesday night to upend the decades-long Saudi-U.S. alliance by ending weapons sales to the Gulf nation.
"I would make it very clear we were not going to in fact sell more weapons to them, we were going to in fact make them pay the price and make them in fact the pariah that they are," Biden said during the Democratic debate. "There's very little social redeeming value in the present government in Saudi Arabia. And I would also, as pointed out, I would end subsidies that we have, end the sale of material to the Saudis where they're going in and murdering children, and they're murdering innocent people."
Debate moderator Andrea Mitchell asked if Biden would punish Saudi Arabia for its role in the murder of Washington Post reporter Jamal Khashoggi.
"Yes, and I said it at the time Khashoggi was in fact murdered and dismembered, and I believe on the order of the crown prince," Biden responded. "And so they have to be held accountable."