Former president Donald Trump commended the Saudi Arabian financial supporters of a new golf tournament that has sparked controversy. Simultaneously, he denounced the conventional PGA Tour.
“I’ve known these people for a long time in Saudi Arabia and they have been friends of mine for a long time,” Trump said. “They’ve invested in many American companies. They own big percentages of many, many American companies and frankly, what they are doing for golf is so great, what they are doing for the players is so great. The salaries are going to go way up.”
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman finances the LIV Golf tour, one leg of which Trump hosted at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. In 2018, bin Salman was discovered to have approved the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi nonconformist and journalist with the Washington Post. At the time, Trump denied the discovery.
Trump’s Bedminster club had been slated to host the 2022 PGA Championship, but after the January 6 attack on the Capitol, the association moved it to Oklahoma, saying that it would be “detrimental to the PGA of America brand” if it was held at Bedminster.
In response to the decision, Trump said that “The PGA was not loved by a lot of the players, as you know, for a long time. Now they have an alternative and nobody ever would have known it was going to be a gold rush, like this. I think nobody ever knew that they were going to be paying signing bonuses. The prize money was going to be much higher, you know, four, five, six times higher. So, instead of a million dollars you win five or seven or eight. A lot of money and it’s even going up. But the PGA Tour hasn’t acted well.”
Before starting his practice putts, Trump was asked about protests involving the families of victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, who believe the Saudi Arabian government supported the organizers of the attacks.
“Well, nobody’s gotten to the bottom of 9/11, unfortunately. They should have. As to the maniacs that did that horrible thing to our city, to our country, to the world, so nobody’s really been there,” said Trump.
Link:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/28/sports/golf/donald-trump-liv-saudi-pga.html
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-defends-hosting-saudi-backed-golf-tournament-claiming-nobodys-go-rcna40536
“I’ve known these people for a long time in Saudi Arabia and they have been friends of mine for a long time,” Trump said. “They’ve invested in many American companies. They own big percentages of many, many American companies and frankly, what they are doing for golf is so great, what they are doing for the players is so great. The salaries are going to go way up.”
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman finances the LIV Golf tour, one leg of which Trump hosted at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. In 2018, bin Salman was discovered to have approved the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi nonconformist and journalist with the Washington Post. At the time, Trump denied the discovery.
Trump’s Bedminster club had been slated to host the 2022 PGA Championship, but after the January 6 attack on the Capitol, the association moved it to Oklahoma, saying that it would be “detrimental to the PGA of America brand” if it was held at Bedminster.
In response to the decision, Trump said that “The PGA was not loved by a lot of the players, as you know, for a long time. Now they have an alternative and nobody ever would have known it was going to be a gold rush, like this. I think nobody ever knew that they were going to be paying signing bonuses. The prize money was going to be much higher, you know, four, five, six times higher. So, instead of a million dollars you win five or seven or eight. A lot of money and it’s even going up. But the PGA Tour hasn’t acted well.”
Before starting his practice putts, Trump was asked about protests involving the families of victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, who believe the Saudi Arabian government supported the organizers of the attacks.
“Well, nobody’s gotten to the bottom of 9/11, unfortunately. They should have. As to the maniacs that did that horrible thing to our city, to our country, to the world, so nobody’s really been there,” said Trump.
Link:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/28/sports/golf/donald-trump-liv-saudi-pga.html
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-defends-hosting-saudi-backed-golf-tournament-claiming-nobodys-go-rcna40536
