Hanan Elatr Khashoggi, widow of slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi, is talking out in opposition to President Donald Trump after he made excuses for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who U.S. intelligence has related to Khashoggi’s 2018 assassination.
Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Submit journalist who was assassinated in 2018.
On Tuesday, Trump hosted bin Salman on the White Home the place he was requested in regards to the killing by reporters.
“He’s done a phenomenal job,” Trump stated of bin Salman. “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.”
Trump’s assertion in the end gave the stamp of approval from the U.S. authorities to a broadly condemned motion in opposition to the press.
In a Reuters story printed later that day, Hanan Elatr Khashoggi responded and stated, “Nothing [can] justify just a horrible crime … because he’s controversial or he’s unliked by someone.”
U.S. intelligence sources have linked the homicide of the journalist to bin Salman, citing a recording from a member of the kill workforce who ordered one other to “tell your boss,” who’s broadly believed to be bin Salman.
Khashoggi was a correspondent for the Washington Submit, which has develop into extra pleasant towards the Trump administration underneath proprietor Jeff Bezos. However even the Submit was compelled to criticize Trump’s feedback.
A cartoon by Jack Ohman.
“These distortions dishonor Khashoggi’s legacy, stand at odds with the facts and are beneath the office of the president,” the publication’s editorial board wrote in a column. “Legitimizing and defending Mohammed this way will embolden him and his ilk to mistreat not just journalists but any Americans—knowing that they’ll probably face no real consequences.”
Trump was additionally criticized by the Nationwide Press Membership, which stated in an announcement, “We urge all world leaders—including our own—to speak with moral clarity about the protection of journalists and to reinforce the universal commitment that a free press is indispensable to a free society.”
However Trump has lengthy made clear he has little regard for a free and open press.
Backing the homicide of a journalist is straight according to Trump’s different behaviors—and it serves as a warning to reporters throughout the nation.
