Biden holds a controversial meeting with the Saudi crown prince.

Maura Barrett is with the president. President Biden is gearing up for his trip to the middle east this week, under fire as some critics say he's being soft on Saudi Arabia and its human rights abuses.

Today, pushing back in an op-ed in "the Washington Post," the same publication Jamal Khashoggi was working for when he was assassinated, an effort coordinated by the Saudi leadership, defending his decision for the visit, the president wrote, "my views on human rights are clear and long-standing and fundamental freedom is always on the agenda when I travel abroad." 

As a candidate, he made this promise. " We are, in fact, going to make them pay the price and make them the prior they are. Now stressing working with Saudi Arabia would counter Russia's aggression and help the u.S. Outcompete china. The controversial visit is coming as the president faces low approval ratings and high gas prices. Those prices have come down cents since they were high in June, but the national average is still $1.50 above last year, raising the stakes for this meeting with one of the world's biggest oil producers.

Biden has already said he plans to push OPEC, which Saudi Arabia chairs, to produce more.