Et tu, Brute?
On Tuesday morning, President Donald Trump, in an effort to deflect some of the criticism being leveled at him over his handling of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post journalist who was killed by a Saudi death squad inside the embassy in Istanbul, tweeted a meager defense of his prior dealings with Saudi Arabia:
For the record, I have no financial interests in Saudi Arabia (or Russia, for that matter). Any suggestion that I have is just more FAKE NEWS (of which there is plenty)!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 16, 2018
That, of course, is (pardon the expression) horseshit. If you’ve even remotely glanced at the news in the last, oh, say, 30 years, you know that Trump has had plenty of dealings with Saudi Arabia, and even here at DC Tribune we’ve been chronicling them pretty recently, what with the guy who got murdered being the nephew of an arms dealer that Trump bought a yacht from in 1989.
But Trump was utterly dismayed, we’re certain, to find that if he’s calling it “fake news” he has to include his precious Fox News Channel as well — because Fox’s research team sent out a tweet from their verified account refuting the President’s assertions less than one hour later:
Trump & Saudi Business:
•1991: Sold yacht to Saudi Prince
•2001: Sold 45th floor of Trump World Tower to Saudis
•Jun 2015: I love the Saudis…many in Trump Tower
•Aug 2015: “They buy apartments from me…Spend $40M-$50M”
•2017: Saudi lobbyists spent $270K at Trump DC hotel— Fox News Research (@FoxNewsResearch) October 16, 2018
This doesn’t include the eight companies that Trump registered in Saudi Arabia during the presidential campaign, but perhaps Fox was in a rush to tweet out what they had so far.
Oh, and that yacht they listed in the tweet? That’s the same one we wrote about him buying from Jamal Khashoggi’s uncle, so you know, it’s not like he forgot about it or who he got it from. Trump is lying through his teeth about his relationship with the Middle Eastern kingdom, and each time he does, it makes you wonder a little more just why he’s doing so.
Featured image via screen capture
