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President Trump said this to Fox News’ Laura Ingraham:

I said to Saudi Arabia - we have a very good relationship with Saudi Arabia - I said “Listen, you’re a very rich country. You want more troops? I’m going to send them to you, but you’ve got to pay us.” They’re paying us. They’ve already deposited 1 billion dollars in the bank.

I’m interested in the part in bold. My question is, is President Trump right that Saudi Arabia has deposited 1 billion dollars to pay the United States for the US troop presence in Saudi Arabia?

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  • I don't have the time to look for a source now but afaik Saudi-Arabia is paying the US for the presence of US troops in Saudi-Arabia, to the tune of billions of dollars. This is a long term deal. I'm not sure whether Fox referred to these payments or whether there was an extra 1 billion $ recently.
    – quarague
    Jan 14, 2020 at 13:41
  • Whose bank? Who gets that money?
    – RedSonja
    Jan 14, 2020 at 14:29
  • @RedSonja the US Department of Defense probably, or the US federal government in general. No, it's not going to the President's private bank account.
    – jwenting
    Jan 23, 2020 at 5:21

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Saudi Arabia has not, yet, deposited money to pay for troop presence.

  • Vox Article quotes a Pentagon spokesperson:

    Consistent with the president’s guidance to increase partner burden-sharing, the Department of Defense has engaged Saudi Arabia on contributing to US activities that support regional security and dissuade hostility and aggression. The Saudi government has agreed to contribute to the costs of these activities, and discussions are ongoing to formalize these contributions. Contributions of this nature do not lead to the deployment of additional US forces, and they do not drive DoD to take on new missions or responsibilities.

  • CNN article, Despite Trump's claims, Saudi Arabia does not appear to have paid $1 billion to house US troops:

    But the Pentagon says discussions about how Saudi Arabia can help pay for the cost of the US military deployment there are ongoing.

    "The Saudi government has agreed to contribute to the costs of these activities, and discussions are ongoing to formalize these contributions. Contributions of this nature do not lead to the deployment of additional U.S. forces, and they do not drive DOD to take on new missions or responsibilities," Pentagon spokesperson Cmdr. Rebecca Rebarich told CNN in a statement.

So it seems Trump's claim was false.

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  • no, it does not. Your quotes are about extra Saudi money that's going to come in on top of the already existing payments Saudi Arabia makes to pay for the US troops in that country, which is to the extent of billions per year.
    – jwenting
    Jan 23, 2020 at 5:39
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    @jwenting If you have proof for that, write an answer of your own.
    – Keshav Srinivasan
    Jan 23, 2020 at 6:15

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