After the PGA Tour canceled its tournaments that were to be hosted at Trump-owned golf courses, Trump’s Bedminster booked a tournament with the Saudi-backed LIV leagues.
And now 9/11 families are furious.
Several 9/11 family members from the group 9/11 Justice sent a letter to the Trump organization protesting the decision to host two events for the Saudi-backed golf league, one at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey and another at Trump National Doral Miami. In the letter, the group argues that the Saudis were a key perpetrator in the terror attacks that killed 3,000 Americans in 2001.
A sign reading Trump National Doral is seen on the grounds of the golf course owned by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on June 1, 2016, in Doral, Florida. Reports indicate that a PGA Tour event that has been held at the Trump National Doral since 1961 is heading to Mexico City in 2017. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
“It is incomprehensible to us, Mr. Trump, that a former president of the United States would cast our loved ones aside for personal financial gain,” the group wrote, according to CNBC.
The group insisted that the decision to host the LIV tournaments left them in “deep pain and anger.”
9/11 Justice President Brett Eagleson, who lost his father on 9/11, told the New York Times that the LIV tournament hosting is no less than “allowing the Saudis to literally get away with murder if this golf tournament is allowed to proceed.”
“It just sends a message that with the right amount of money, you can make people forget about anything,” Eagleson added. “If anyone knows the extent of the Saudi role in 9/11, it’s Trump.”
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (L) speaks during a meeting with US President Donald Trump (R) in the Oval Office of the White House on March 20, 2018, in Washington, DC. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
It is unsurprising that Trump courses would be amenable to hosting LIV events, granted. The former president has been outspoken about the “stingy” PGA Tour that he says created the opening for a competing pro league to form.
Still, as a candidate in 2016, Trump placed some of the blame for the 9/11 terror attack on the Saudis. “It wasn’t the Iraqis that knocked down the World Trade Center … because they have papers in there that are very secret, you may find it’s the Saudis, OK?” he said at a campaign event in South Carolina.
For its part, the Saudi Kingdom has always denied having any role in the attacks in 2001.
Eagleson’s group also protested the Pumpkin Ridge course in Portland, Oregon, for hosting the inaugural U.S.A. LIV tournament early this month.
Last year, the PGA Tour canceled its events at Trump courses, spurring the Trump organization to sue over the broken contracts. Trump later settled with the PGA Tour over the matter.
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