Donald Trump's Commerce Secretary just praised Saudi Arabia's lack of protests. Where they're illegal.

United States President Donald Trump recently visited Saudi Arabia for his first foreign trip.

In an interview on Monday with CNBC, his Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross noticed that, in his words, he found it "fascinating" that he didn't see:

a single hint of a protester anywhere there during the whole time we were there.

Protests and marches have been banned in Saudi Arabia since March 2011 and the instability of the Arab Spring. The Saudi regime formalised the criminalisation of demonstrations - to this day it is illegal to march with placards.

This was pointed out to Ross by host Becky Quick. Ross replied that may be true "in theory":

But boy, there was certainly no sign of it, there wasn't a single effort of any incursion.

There wasn't anything. The mood was a genuinely good mood.

You can watch the full exchange here:

Ross' remarks were swiftly criticised for ignorance:

Wilbur Ross was also criticised for apparently falling asleep during President Trump's speech:

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