Shamita Basu

speaker

1,354 appearances 16 recordings 1 series first heard Mar 2025 last heard 28 Feb

Shamita Basu’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 14 in all, peaking in Dec 2025 with 6.

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Apple News Today · Why Trump is rolling out the red carpet for the Saudi crown prince · 18 Nov 2025 podcast

I'm Shamita Basu.

This is Apple News Today.

On today's show, FEMA's acting head, the second one this year, is out.

Why it's easier than you think to rob a French museum.

And if you're planning to buy a big bird for Thanksgiving, be prepared for sticker shock.

But first, Saudi Arabia's crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is set to meet with President Trump at the White House today.

He's expected to receive a red carpet welcome complete with pageantry, the Oval Office photo op, and a weapons deal.

Matthew Martin is the Saudi Arabia bureau chief for Semaphore.

He told us that bin Salman has been on a mission to rebuild his reputation after the CIA concluded he approved the killing of the journalist Khashoggi, something he's always denied.

While campaigning ahead of his 2020 win, Joe Biden promised to make Saudi Arabia a pariah.

But the country's strategic importance and its oil revenues apparently proved too important for him to really turn his back.

Relations slowly began to recover, and Trump has since embraced the crown prince as a great ally.

Martin told us that, above all, will today be demonstrated in military terms.

Yesterday, Trump promised to sell powerful F-35 fighter jets to Saudi, a big win.

Typically, the U.S.

only sells those to formal military allies, and Israel is the only country in the Middle East to have them.

But Israeli officials have reportedly asked the administration to ensure any deal on those F-35s is conditional on the kingdom agreeing to normalize relations with their country.

A lot of money is at stake in this visit as well.

Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia pledged to invest $600 billion in the U.S., and a separate event after the White House visit is intended to link American and Saudi business leaders for future opportunities.

The meeting comes as the Trump Organization, which is currently run by the president's sons, Donald Jr.

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