A video circulated online in March 2026 appearing to show U.S. President Donald Trump saying Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman "didn't think he'd be kissing my a**."
The clip spread across multiple platforms, and many users in the comments expressed doubt the video was authentic, positing it may have been generated using artificial intelligence. Readers also asked Snopes to verify the claim.
The quote was correctly attributed to Trump — he made the comment (at approximately 43:02) during his appearance at a conference in Miami for the Saudi nonprofit Future Investment Initiative.
The White House published a video (archived) of his speech on YouTube on March 27, 2026. We include his extended comments to illustrate the context surrounding the quote. He said (emphasis ours):
A short time ago, a man that we just discussed, the king, the future king of Saudi Arabia, and I also love the king of Saudi Arabia […] but a short time ago, we were together and he looked at me and he said, "You know, it's amazing, one year ago, you were a dead country. Now, you're the hottest country anywhere in the world." He didn't think this was going to happen. He didn't think he'd be kissing my a**. He really didn't. He thought it'd be just another American president that was a loser where the country was going downhill, but now he has to be nice to me. You tell him he better be nice to me. He's gotta be. But it was really something. No, he said, though, he said, "You know, it's amazing, President" — because he's a very smart and — but a regular kind of guy. He said, "You know, it's amazing, President, a year ago" — in that case, it was a year and a half, it was six months ago, but — "a year ago, you were a dead country. Now, you're literally the hottest country anywhere in the world." And that was before we beat the hell out of Iran. You know? Now, I think he's got — it's even better. I think we have to up it, but he's fantastic. And everything we do, we're working to make America the No. 1 place on earth to do business.
In short, Trump's comments and his appearance at the Miami conference were indicative of an economic alliance between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia that the Trump administration has increasingly centered in recent months — notably hosting the Saudi crown prince at the White House in November 2025.
Prince Mohammad has not responded to Trump's comments, as of this writing.