(CNN) That it was Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud and not his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who called President Trump speaks to how seriously the kingdom is treating Friday's shooting at a US military base that involved a Saudi national. Compared to Saudi Arabia's often glacial standards, the 83-year-old monarch moved with remarkable speed to call Trump. The king quickly instructed his own security services to cooperate fully with US investigators into the shooting in which three people were killed at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 6, 2019It is clear the aging monarch is in damage limitation mode. He will be fully aware of how frayed Saudi Arabia's reputation has become with the US public and politicians.

Source: CNN December 07, 2019 05:26 UTC