The Plight of Saad Hariri and the plight of Muhammad bin Salman

The influence of Saudi/UAE money over the DC think tank, government, and media scene is such that you find people denying the obvious.  There are people who are still saying: but Hariri was seen greeting the King, which means he is free. But did they forget that Muhammad bin Nayif was made to bless the appointment of MbS as Crown Prince while the former was under house arrest?