Huan Usmani of The New York Times. “So, you are suggesting that they had a deal to get him because the Saudis like him and they liked the fact — they didn’t like the fact they had to get these American hostages.”

This is just more evidence of a deliberate tactic used to keep the Trump administration at arm’s length from its ties with the royal family. In May 2017, Tillerson flew to Saudi Arabia at the request of King Salman — and then returned to Washington at Trump’s request without providing details of their meeting.

On his first official visit to Saudi Arabia, Attorney General Jeff Sessions warned the kingdom against interfering in the ongoing presidential election — but that was before allegations circulated that the government conducted cyber-attacks on Trump’s campaign. According to the Washington Post, he may have been “misinformed” about the information.

At the time, Trump tweeted: “Thank you King Salman for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for its hospitality and generosity. We are going to treat the Saudis with great respect as they treat us.”

He added: “The United States is deeply concerned and will not tolerate Saudi Arabia violating its own laws and targeting of innocent civilians.”

The U.S. has also sought to distance its relationships with the royals since the May visit. It said that it “strongly condemns” the airstrikes undertaken by Saudi Arabia against Yemen, as well as attacks on the country’s U.S.-backed “Saudi-led coalition partners.” Those attacks have also targeted Shiite Houthis — who are fighting Saudi-led forces — and the Houthi leader Ahmed Ali al-Houthi. The U.S. said that it would not hesitate to impose financial and non-lethal sanctions against any governments or organizations supplying Houthi, Saleh, or Jabhat Yemen funding.