It takes a special moral flexibility to host a man at the White House who is confirmed by the U.S. intelligence to be a murderer. And imagine lecturing a reporter for bringing it up? Donald Trump did exactly that in defense of the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, when asked about Jamal Khashoggi.
On Monday, an ABC reporter asked two obvious, uncomfortable questions to Trump and Mohammed bin Salman at the Oval Office. Why should Americans trust a leader the CIA concluded approved a journalist’s murder? And why is the Trump family pursuing business interests in a country whose government dismembered a journalist for no crime?
Trump’s response immediately proved that the question was legitimate, but the answer was politically inconvenient. “Who are you with?” he snapped at the reporter. “ABC News,” she said. “Fake news. ABC fake news,” Trump complained, channelizing his inner toddler. Distastefully enough, he decided to answer the questions after insulting the reporter and their organization.
Trump defended the Saudi Crown Prince
Trump insisted he has “nothing to do with the family business,” praised his own success, and claimed he “decided to leave that success behind and make America very successful.” Yeah, maybe he should’ve just continued with the family business. He then pivoted to defending the Crown Prince like a man auditioning for Saudi state TV:
“As far as this gentleman is concerned, he’s done a phenomenal job. You’re mentioning somebody that was extremely controversial. A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about. Whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen. But he knew nothing about it, and we can leave it at that. You don’t have to embarrass our guest by asking a question like that.”
Let’s dig into it. Trump first called Jamal Khashoggi a “controversial” figure, claiming that many people did not like him. Uh, excuse me, is that supposed to be a justifiable excuse to kill someone? He then dropped a line that sucked the air out of the room. “Whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen.”
That’s how a former U.S. president summarized the kidnapping, torture, and dismemberment of a journalist whose widow is still seeking justice seven years later.
Trump claimed MBS knew nothing about Jamal Khashoggi, but the CIA disagrees
Trump also made a bold claim that MBS “knew nothing about it.” Let’s dig into that. Merely six weeks after the assassination, the CIA concluded with high confidence that MBS approved to “capture or kill” Khashoggi. Turkish investigators described a 15-member Saudi hit squad flown in for a coordinated, premeditated kill mission (via The Guardian). UN experts called the Saudi trial a cover-up (via HRW).
But Trump waved all of that away. “You don’t have to embarrass our guest,” he scolded the reporter. With that, he framed a murder, CIA’s assessment, and the fury of 9/11 families as impolite topics. He did not want to risk upsetting a royal, but seems fine with hurting the sentiments of his own people.
MBS also stepped in to answer the question, calling the killing a “huge mistake.” He claimed that Saudi Arabia had “improved its system,” and shifted to defending U.S.–Saudi ties by invoking bin Laden. He suggested that such criticism is helping bin Laden’s purpose of destroying U.S.–Saudi relations. It was a neat inversion. Questioning a prince accused of murder suddenly became aiding terrorism.
Jamal Khashoggi’s widow replied
But the most powerful response didn’t come from a politician or a reporter. It came from Khashoggi’s widow, Hanan Elatr. Hearing Trump call her husband “controversial,” she had a heartbreaking mixture of grace and disbelief. She clapped back at the statement, saying:
“The kind of justifying the crime, by presenting Jamal this way, saying he is controversial and some people do not like him, does not mean to kidnap him torture him and take his life.”
Elatr once saw Trump as a “peace man.” But after hearing his comment, she expressed a desire to meet him to show him the real Jamal. The kind, transparent man behind the headlines, he now dismisses. Elatr didn’t leave the Crown Prince out of her target either. She told CNN, “The Crown Prince said he was sorry. So, he should meet me, apologize, and compensate me for the murder of my husband.”
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
