On the heels of survivors of the terrorist attacks on 9/11 and their family members launching an ad criticizing Donald Trump for hosting the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Series at his New Jersey resort for an event this week, the National Press Club followed suit with a harshly worded letter ripping the upstart tour and the former president.
Ahead of the LIV Golf Invitational at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey, National Press Club president Jen Judson President and National Press Club Journalism Institute president Gil Klein released a joint statement calling on Americans to recognize the Saudi-funded LIV Golf Series as an “attempt to minimize the grisly bone-saw attack on Washington Post opinion writer Jamal Khashoggi for what it is — an attempt to sweep under the rug a brutal state-sponsored murder.”
“We call on people of conscience to reject this tournament. Do not attend. Do not watch it on television. Let it fail,” Klein and Judson wrote. “That the tournament is being held at a course owned by former President Trump is, if possible, even more revolting. It reminds us that the former President bragged of distracting Congress from the murder, delaying the release of the final U.S. government report that concluded MBS, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia (and recipient of the fist-bump from President Biden) was most likely involved in planning and approving Jamal’s murder.”
Despite the ad, the statement and a planned protest by the 9/11 families, LIV Golf will almost certainly be teeing off in New Jersey about an hour away from Ground Zero in downtown Manhattan as planned. As for all the negative publicity surrounding the event, that’s of little concern for Trump, who actually praised Saudi Arabia for all coverage their investment in LIV Golf has generated.
“I think LIV has been a great thing for Saudi Arabia, for the image of Saudi Arabia,” Trump told The Wall Street Journal. “LIV has been getting great publicity for Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia deserves that for what they’re doing because it’s become very exciting. I do think that the publicity that they’ve gotten, more than anything, has been a great thing for them. I think the publicity they’ve gotten is worth billions of dollars. It’s one of the hottest things to have happened in sports and sports is a big part of life.”
At least for now, LIV Golf is a part of life that isn’t going anywhere as the series just announced it will be expanding from eight tournaments to 14 for the 2023 season and plans to award $405 million in total purses to its players.
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