Non-Profit Organization Calls For DOJ Investigation Into Trump’s Ties With LIV Golf: ‘A National Security Emergency’
AP Photo/Lynne Sladky
Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) has called on the United States Department of Justice to investigate former President Donald Trump‘s business ties to LIV Golf.
DAWN is a non-profit organization that promotes democracy and human rights in the Middle East. The organization was founded after Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. The Saudi Arabian Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman was accused by the U.S. intelligence agencies of approving the assassination of Khashoggi.
On January 13th, court filings revealed that bin Salman owns 93 percent of LIV Golf and pays for 100 percent of the Golf league’s costs. Trump this year hosted a LIV Golf event at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey and another at National Dormal in Miami, Flordia. Newsweek reported that the executive director of DAWN, Sarah Leah Whitson, called for the DOJ and Congress to look into the business dealings between Trump and Salman since Trump announced he would run for President in 2024.
“The revelation that a fund controlled by Crown Prince NBS actually owns almost all of LIV Golf means that MBS has been paying Donald Trump unknown millions for the past two years, via their mutual corporate covers,” Whitson said.
“The national security implications of payments from a grotesquely abusive foreign dictator to a president of the United States who provided extraordinary favors to him are as dangerous as they are shocking,” Whitson continued.
One of the incidents DAWN pointed to was Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Trump’s former Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin‘s reported business deals with the Saudi government.
“If Trump or his agents discussed any deals with LIV Golf or PIF while Trump was still in office, a criminal investigation would also be in order because federal law strictly prohibits this sort of business dealing by sitting federal officials with foreign governments,” Whitson added.
“Given that Trump is also planning to run again for president, his business ties to Mohammed bin Salman are a national security emergency,” Whitson said.
LIV Golf had been accused of “sports washing” after they poached golfers to start their new league from the PGA Tour. Phil Mickelson reportedly signed an enormous contract with LIV Golf worth up to $200 million. A war of words between PGA star Rory McIlroy and LIV Golf’s Greg Norman started after the two leagues sued one another for anti-trust violations.
