Despite the ire of 9/11 families and journalists who claim they are “revolted” by the former President’s decision to ignore the Saudi government’s murky history of human rights abuses and ties to terrorism in exchange for a sizable paycheck, the Saudi-sponsored LIV Golf International gets underway this weekend at Donald Trump’s Bedminster club.
Trump, who had previously been dropped by the PGA in 2016 and again in 2021 following the Capitol violence, controversially consented to host the event at his property.
Since then, he has urged golfers to enter the competition, urging them to “accept the money now” and warning that if they don’t, they will lose out on a payout when the LIV series and the PGA “inevitably” unite.
The series has sparked controversy and enraged critics of the Saudi government.
One of them is the fiancée of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018. Jamal Khashoggi was killed there.
He was at the time calling out the administration of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for violating human rights.
The National Press Club, a group of journalists, joined her in expressing concern over the tournament’s location on US soil in a statement they issued this week.
The families of the 9/11 victims, however, are the ones who are most horrified, claiming that they are sickened by the fact that the event is taking place 40 miles from the location where their loved ones were murdered in an attack that was partially supported by the Saudi government.
On Friday, they’ve promised to demonstrate in front of the club. Trump has made an effort to placate them by claiming that 9/11 was “close and dear” to him through an adviser.
The founder of 9/11 Justice, Brett Eagelson, claimed that the peace proposal had “no value.”
“We’re going to make it as unpleasant and unpleasant for those involved as possible.” We believe that they must be aware of our emotions.
Matthew Bocchi, whose father was killed in the attack when he was nine, said: “I think it creates a precedent that money will erase wrongdoing, and that’s what enrages me the most.”
In the midst of this growing rage, Donald and Melania Trump emerged Friday night to greet golfers and partygoers in Manhattan.
The PGA tried to prohibit players who compete in LIV events earlier this year, and the Department of Justice launched an inquiry into the PGA this month for alleged anticompetitive conduct.
Family members of 9/11 victims are outraged that the former president is so openly endorsing the nation that helped finance the attacks. Saudi Arabia is financing the tour, which has outraged them.
Before establishing training camps in Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the terror attacks, came from a well-known Saudi family.
“It is beyond comprehension,” said Dennis McGinley, whose brother Daniel McGinley perished in the attacks while working on the 89th floor of the South Tower.
“For Donald Trump, a former president of the United States, to host the Saudi golf tournament, help it get off the ground 45 miles or 50 miles from Ground Zero, where 750 New Jerseyans were killed on that day, is beyond comprehension.”
As 9/11 families, we’ve had to develop thick skin over the previous 21 years, but this genuinely hurts, he told DailyMail.com.
“This one hurts so bad.”
In a letter to the former president, their organisation 9/11 Justice expressed their “great pain and fury” regarding the competition.
“Mr. Trump, the evidence is more convincing than ever. Both the heinous attack on America and the deaths of our loved ones are entirely the fault of the Saudi Arabian country. And you are aware of it,” the letter said.
“We ask for the chance to have some of our family members meet with you in the coming days to convey our concerns in person and urge you to stop doing business with the dictatorship that was involved in the death of our loved ones,” the letter reads.
It is inconceivable to us, Mr. Trump, that a former president of the United States would disregard our loved ones for his financial gain, the letter read.
We sincerely hope you will reevaluate your business dealings with the Saudi Golf League and accept our invitation to meet.
The National Press Club expressed its outrage at how the Saudi-funded LIV enterprise followed the fist bump in the desert by pushing itself onto golf courses and television screens in a statement earlier this week.
We urge all Americans to recognise this dishonest effort to downplay the horrible state-sponsored murder that took place when Jamal Khashoggi was attacked with a bone saw as the deplorable attempt it is.
“We urge conscientious individuals to reject this tournament.” Avoid going. Not on television, please. Accept failure.
It’s possibly even more upsetting that the tournament is taking place at a course owned by the former president Trump.
It serves as a reminder that the former President boasted of diverting Congress’ attention from the murder by delaying the publication of the final U.S. government report, which found that MBS, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia (who received a fist-bump from President Biden), was probably responsible for organising and approving the killing of Jamal.
And the competition on the Trump course serves as a reminder of the ways in which Saudi Arabia enriches Trump and his family, notably by giving his son-in-law $2 billion.
Insisting that the LIV tournament is the future and that it would inevitably combine with or surpass the PGA, Trump has yet remained stubborn.
On Monday morning, Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social that “all of those golfers that remain ‘loyal’ to the very disloyal PGA, in all of its different forms, will pay a big price when the inevitable MERGER with LIV comes, and you get nothing but a big “thank you” from PGA officials who are making Millions of Dollars a year.”
“If you don’t take the money now, you won’t receive anything after the merger, and all you’ll be able to say is how wise the initial signees were.”
“Good luck to everyone, and congrats to Cam Smith on his great WIN!”
Although 15 of the 19 individuals who hijacked and wrecked four planes that day in New York City, Pennsylvania, and at the Pentagon were Saudi nationals, Saudi Arabia has denied any involvement in the attacks for 20 years.
In November 2021, after Biden authorised their declassification, the FBI made the materials from its Operation Encore probe public.
The Bureau had looked into, among other things, whether three people, including a representative of the Saudi embassy in the US, had knowledge of the assaults beforehand.
The’significant logistic help’ that two of the hijackers had received after entering the nation, including ‘procuring living accommodations and assistance with adapting,’ was described in a previous memo that was made public in September.
McGinley claimed that since mailing the letter, no one from Trump’s staff has gotten in touch with 9/11 Justice.
Trump’s relationship with the Saudi kingdom has a murky history.
He said that Saudi Arabia “blew up the World Trade Center” in 2016 on FOX News.
“Who detonated the World Trade Center bomb?” Not the Iraqis, though. They were Saudis.
Open the documents and look at Saudi Arabia,’ he advised the network at the time.
The majority of the people who arrived were from Saudi Arabia.
In 2016, on Fox News, Trump said that “They didn’t come from Iraq.”
But after taking office, he remained cordial with the government and even asserted to have “saved” MSB’s “a**” after the CIA determined that he had ordered the killing of Khashoggi in 2018 (CIA).
According to reports, Trump said to Bob Woodward, “I rescued his a**.” Congress finally agreed to let him be. I had the power to stop them.
He described Saudi Arabia as “an important ally” and mentioned how he had jokingly told Congressmen to “let them trade with Russia instead.”
Let them purchase 1,000 aircraft from Russia rather than the US. You guys need to be clever, he remarked.
Trump publicly played it safe after Khashoggi was killed and evidence mounted that the Saudi government had ordered the killing.
Although he maintained that “nobody had thrown the finger” at MSB or his government, he admitted that he was “extremely unhappy” that Khashoggi had been assassinated.
He confided in Woodward in confidence, saying: “He swears he didn’t do it…he says very strongly that he didn’t do it.”
They made $400 billion in relatively recent years, Bob.
Later, despite the kingdom’s proxy war in Yemen, he backed arms agreements with it and refused to sever ties with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, despite widespread condemnation of the killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Before the plane crashed into the tower, McGinley was speaking to his brother on the phone.
Daniel and his wife Peggy were raising their five children in their new “dream home” in Ridgewood, New Jersey.
He claimed that while on the phone with him, his brother was sobbing and saying, “I just want to get home to Peggy and the kids.”
For the past 21 years, I have been haunting this conversation, McGinley stated.
One of the golfers stated in their interviews that they were only attempting to support their families.
Yes, my brother Danny and the other 2,900 people were merely trying to support their families.
And on September 11, all of that was horribly snatched away from them.
The LIV has already hosted two significant occasions, and the Bedminster competition will be its third.
At the Trump National Doral Miami, Trump will also serve as the host of the season-ending Team Championship.