Saudi Arabia's oil price hike is 'election interference' designed to hurt Democrats: experts

In a move White House officials called a "hostile act," Saudi Arabia slashed oil production by 2 million barrels a day with around just a month to go before the U.S. midterms. Now, the Biden administration says it will be "re-evaluating" its relationship with the Saudis.

According to The Intercept's Ken Klippenstein, the reaction was a public sign of disappointment from U.S. officials rarely directed towards the Saudi Kingdom.

Experts speaking to The Intercept say the Saudis' move wasn't just geopolitical -- it was an effort to influence U.S. politics.

“The Saudis are working to get Trump re-elected and for the MAGA Republicans to win the midterms,” Bruce Riedel, a senior fellow of the Brookings Institution, told The Intercept. “Higher oil prices will undermine the Democrats.”

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According to Klippenstein, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's affinity for Trump is no secret.

"Trump broke with presidential tradition by paying his first foreign visit to Saudi Arabia’s capital, where he inked a record $350 billion weapons sale to the autocracy," Klippenstein writes. "He also repeatedly defended MBS amid reporting, including by his own CIA, that the crown prince had ordered the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. 'I saved his ass,' Trump reportedly said. 'I was able to get Congress to leave him alone' — referring to three times he vetoed congressional resolutions blocking billions in weapons sales to the Saudis."

Executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, Trita Parsi, agrees that MBS's move was designed to target Democrats electoral prospects.

“This is his election interference. It forces Biden to make a choice: Will he protect America’s democracy and Democratic lawmakers in Congress, or will he triple down on a flawed gamble that says that the U.S. has no choice but to acquiesce to Saudi Arabia to prevent Riyadh from aligning with Russia?”

Read the full report over at The Intercept.