The Joe Biden administration has determined that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is not subject to a lawsuit over the 2018 murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, The Hill reports.

The State Department said that as acting head of a foreign government, Saudi Arabia's crown prince is legally immune from such a lawsuit. In deciding on immunity, the State Department disregards the substance of this lawsuit and reiterates its unequivocal condemnation of the heinous murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the department said in a statement.

Khashoggi was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018. The CIA later concluded that Prince Mohammed ordered the killing of the U.S.-based journalist.

Khashoggi's fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, sued Prince Mohammed in a U.S. court in 2020. However, a federal judge in Washington last month asked the federal government to review the case.

The Biden administration's decision to grant immunity represents a reversal of Biden's campaign promise to make the Saudi crown prince a pariah for killing Khashoggi.