- Trump angrily rebuked reporter over Saudi Crown Prince questions.
- Incident occurred during MBS's White House visit press conference.
- Trump demanded reporter stop embarrassing Saudi Arabia's guest.
When correspondent Mary Bruce questioned the Saudi monarch about why Americans should trust him given his involvement in Kashoggi's death and whether his family should have business in the oil-rich country while he was president, Trump aggressively cut her off and demanded to know who her employer was. He yelled at her, "Fake News," after she responded that she was employed by ABC. One of the worst false news outlets in the industry is ABC.
He vehemently denied any involvement in his own real estate and hotel company's numerous collaborations with Saudi developers, asserting that his sons, who currently manage the business, have "done very little with Saudi Arabia."
At that point, the crown prince often referred to by his initials MBS jumped in and calmly answered the ABC News journalist's question, saying that he felt "painful" about the impact of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the families of those who died but that it was important to "focus on reality."
He went on to say that Osama bin Laden, the commander of Al Qaeda and a wealthy Saudi construction heir, had "used Saudi people" to carry out the terror attacks with the intention of ruining ties between the United States and Saudi Arabia.
MBS went on to discuss the journalist whose death he had ordered, saying that hearing about
"anyone ... losing his life ... for no real purpose or not in a legal way"
had also been "really painful."
“And it's been painful for us in Saudi Arabia. We've did all the right steps of investigation, etc, in Saudi Arabia, and we've improved our system to be sure that nothing happened like that, and it's painful and it's a huge mistake, and we are doing our best that this doesn't happen again,”
he said.
How did journalists and press freedom groups respond to the Oval Office exchange?
Press freedom groups and intelligencers explosively condemned the Oval Office battle where Donald Trump yelled at a journalist over questions about Saudi issues. The Associated Press (AP) called the incident part of a broader pattern of retribution against independent journalism, emphasizing that barring or berating journalists undermines the public’s right to accurate, intrepid news and violates First Amendment protections.
The White House Reporters' Association (WHCA) blamed the administration for trying to control and discipline news associations grounded on editorial choices, calling the behavior “ outrageous ” and “ inferior. ”
Several press freedom lawyers echoed these enterprises, stressing that government officers should be subordinated to tough questions to insure responsibility. They advised that similar combative responses to journalism damage popular morals and translucency.