Fox’s Dagen McDowell Pans Trump Saudi Statement: ‘This is About More Than Business’

Fox Business anchor Dagen McDowell panned President Donald Trump‘s statement on Saudi Arabia Wednesday morning, arguing the murder of Jamal Khashoggi should outweigh concerns about protecting America’s financial relationship with the Gulf nation.

In his bizarre and widely condemned statement, Trump sided with Saudi Arabia over the conclusion of the CIA that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the murder of Khashoggi, a dissident and writer for the Washington Post.

“Should there be a tougher response from the U.S. against what’s happening in Saudi Arabia right now?” Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo asked Wednesday morning.

“We needed to make it clear that the United States will not stand by these human rights abuses,” McDowell replied. “And the statement, quite frankly, lacked a lot of nuance on that.”

McDowell quoted Republican Sen. Rand Paul — who decried Trump’s statement as “Saudi Arabia First, not America First” — pointing out that many of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudis.

When Mornings with Maria contributor Cheryl Casone pointed out that the president’s strategy could be to “defer to the Saudis” to placate them and keep oil prices down, McDowell replied: “But this is about more than business.”

“That’s the issue that a lot of people had with that statement,” she continued. “That what happened with the death of this journalist, it has to be about more than a financial relationship with that country.”

Bartiromo pointed out that the Saudi government is putting forward a united front in their denials of the murder, airing her interview with a Saudi prince ensuring an “investigation” into the murder.

“What the prince said is that he believes that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will be vindicated and exonerated,” Bartiromo said.

“In Saudi Arabia…” panelist Jonas Max Ferris noted. Bartiromo concurred.

Watch above, via Fox Business.