Joe Biden speaks to Saudi Arabia's King Salman before release of Khashoggi murder report

White House says president affirmed the importance the United States places on universal human rights and the rule of law'

Joe Biden has spoken with Saudi Arabia's King Salman for the first time as president, ahead of the publication of a US intelligence report expected to implicate the Saudi crown prince in the 2018 murder of dissident and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

A White House account of the call did not mention the report, but did say, in another context, that Biden affirmed the importance the United States places on universal human rights and the rule of law" and that the two discussed working on mutual issues of concern".