Embattled Trump gets warm welcome in Saudi

RIYADH: Dogged by controversy at home, Donald Trump won a warm reception in Saudi Arabia on Saturday but struggled to shift attention from the political firestorm over his firing of former FBI Director James Comey.

A $110 billion deal in which Saudi Arabia will buy U.S. arms, with options for as much as $350 billion over 10 years, was the central achievement of Trump’s first day in Riyadh, first stop on a nine-day journey through the Middle East and Europe.

But the turmoil back home consumed the headlines and cast a long shadow over his first foreign trip as president.

His firing of Comey and the appointment of a special counsel to investigate his election campaign’s ties to Russia last year have raised the question of whether he tried to squelch a probe into the alleged Russia connection.

Custodian of The Two Holy Mosques Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saudgreeted Trump on a red carpet as he stepped off Air Force One, shaking the hand of his wife, Melania, and riding in the U.S. presidential limousine. Trump and King Salman seemed at ease with each other, chatting through an interpreter.

The arms package includes a pledge by the kingdom to assemble 150 Lockheed Martin Blackhawk helicopters in Saudi Arabia, in a $6 billion deal expected to result in about 450 jobs in the kingdom.

National oil giant Saudi Aramco was also expected to sign $50 billion of deals with U.S. companies on Saturday, part of a drive to diversify the kingdom’s economy beyond oil exports, Aramco’s chief executive Amin Nasser said.

U.S. technology and engineering conglomerate GE said it had signed $15 billion of agreements with Saudi organisations. Trump is to deliver a speech in Riyadh on Sunday aimed at rallying Muslims in the fight against extremist militants.

He will also attend a summit of Gulf leaders of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council. Ahead of Trump’s trip, the White House said the president expected tangible results from Saudi Arabia in countering extremism.

Shortly after taking office, Trump sought to block people from several Muslim-majority nations from entering the United States, but the travel ban has been blocked by federal courts. The 70-year-old president’s trip to Saudi Arabia, Israel, Italy and Belgium will be Trump’s longest time away from the White House since he took office four months ago.

The uproar over Comey’s firing looked unlikely to go away.

Moscow has denied any interference in the 2016 election.

Trump has denied collusion and denounced the appointment of a special counsel as part of a “witch hunt”.