Facing scrutiny for hosting the Saudi Arabian golf league LIV at his club in Bedminster, New Jersey, ex-President Donald Trump claimed on Thursday that nobody has gotten to the bottom of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S.
Activists and families of 9/11 victims are protesting the Bedminster pro-amateur event that begins today with expected participants to include pros Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Sergio Garcia, and amateurs Caitlyn Jenner, Charles Barkley and football Hall of Famers Lawrence Taylor and Brian Urlacher.
- Last year, the FBI released a declassified document from 2016 related to its investigation, which showed Saudi hijackers allegedly received heavy support from Saudi government officials.
- 15 of the 19 attackers were Saudi nationals, and the FBI report implicated “numerous Saudi government officials, in a coordinated effort to mobilize an essential support network for the first arriving 9/11 hijackers, Nawaf al Hazmi and Khalid al Mihdhar.”
- The report did not include direct evidence of a connection to the current royal family, and the Saudi government denies any involvement.
Speaking to ESPN, Trump called those responsible for 9/11 “maniacs” and referred to the attacks as a “horrible thing to our city, to our country, to the world.”
“But I can tell you that there are a lot of really great people that are out here today, and we’re gonna have a lot of fun, and we’re going to celebrate. Money’s going to charity—a lot of money’s going to charity,” he said.
The PGA suspended 17 players for participating in the LIV tour, while Trump criticized players for not signing up for the Saudi tour.
“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 would have ever known there was going to be a gold rush like this,” Trump told ESPN.
He added, “Remember this, if there’s a merger, the people that didn’t come will never get anything except a thank-you from the people who took advantage of them.”