Two days before 60 Minutes airs an interview in which Donald Trump will address the case of missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi,Donald Trump Jr. retweeted a claim—backed by no evidence—that Khashoggi is terrorist sympathizer.
The series of tweets that Trump Jr. retweeted originated with Patrick Poole, a national security and terrorism correspondent for conservative blog PJ Media. Poole’s tweet claims that Khashoggi wrote an article for the Arab News in 1988 about the mujahedeen, in which Khashoggi said he was “tooling around” with Osama Bin Laden. Khashoggi, a foreign correspondent, covered al Qaeda and had several interviews with Bin Laden. He distanced himself from Bin Laden after the 9/11 attacks.
Khashoggi, now a Washington Post columnist, has been missing since October 2nd, when he was seen entering the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul. Turkish officials believe that Khashoggi was murdered and dismembered in the consulate, and that up to 15 Saudi officials were allegedly involved in his murder. According to the newspaper Sabah, Khashoggi may have turned on his Apple Watch before entering the consulate—which may have recorded parts of his interrogation, torture and murder and sent the files to his iCloud and phone.
U.S. officials haven’t spoken much about Khashoggi’s murder, or endorsed what Turkish officials are saying—which comes as little surprise, considering Trump Sr.’s many ties to Saudi Arabia, and his stated refusal to cut said ties. The Saudis have denied the Turkish claims, and Trump has said he’ll chat with Saudi King Salman about Khashoggi’s disappearance.
Trump is also set to discuss Khashoggi and his plan for what to do next with Lesley Stahlon 60 Minutes Sunday. “I’ll tell you what I don’t want to do. I don’t want to hurt jobs,” Trump can be seen saying in a preview clip. “I don’t want to lose an order like that. And you know what, there are other ways of punishing.”
The president also indicates in the interview that he would be horrified to learn that Khashoggi was murdered—even though he is a journalist. “There’s a lot at stake. And, maybe especially so because this man was a reporter. There’s something, you’ll be surprised to hear me say that, there’s something really terrible and disgusting about that if that was the case.”
Trump further claims that if the Saudis are responsible for Khashoggi, there will be “severe punishment.” What will that censure look like, though, if Trump is determined not to cut ties with the nation? Perhaps we’ll find out on Sunday.
Full ScreenPhotos:Melania Trump’s Most Controversial Fashion Choices
October 2016: Pussy-bow blouse
One of Trump’s first headline-making sartorial choices was the pink blouse she wore to one of the presidential debates in October 2016. The debate came just days after the release of the Access Hollywood tape, which caught a 2005-era Donald Trump on a hot mic making disparaging comments about women to Billy Bush, saying, “When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ‘em by the pussy.” The Gucci blouse Trump wore to the debate happened to feature a prominent “pussy-bow” detail, which may or may not have been a total coincidence. Melania, as usual, did not explain further.
Photo: By Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images.
May 2017: $51,500 Dolce & Gabbana jacket
Trump wore the floral Dolce & Gabbana jacket during a visit to Sicily in May 2017, a seemingly innocuous choice—Dolce & Gabbana is an Italian fashion house, and fashion diplomacy is a First Lady tradition. She raised eyebrows, however, when people learned that the coat retailed for $51,500.
Photo: By Giovanni Isolino/AFP/Getty Images.
August 2017: Hurricane heels
While Texas was dealing with the devastating effects of Hurricane Harvey in August 2017, Donald and Melania Trump suited up to see the damage firsthand, which, for Melania, included a pair of sky-high stilettos. While she changed into more sensible footwear before landing, it was an indelible image of the First Lady sauntering into a natural-disaster zone in heels.
Photo: By Alex Wong/Getty Images.
August 2017: “FLOTUS” baseball cap
While visiting a firehouse in Corpus Christi, Texas, in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, Trump took a page out of her husband’s own fashion handbook, wearing a baseball cap with “FLOTUS” embroidered across the front. Call it MAGA merch, but make it fashion.
Photo: By Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images.
June 2018: “I Really Don’t Care” jacket
The jacket read round the world. During a June 2018 visit to a detention center in Texas housing migrant children separated from their families at the Mexican border, Trump donned a Zara jacket that read “I Really Don’t Care, Do U?” As it turned out, people really did. Her particular choice in outerwear was almost universally deemed insensitive given where she was going and her husband’s immigration policies that resulted in families being broken up for weeks at a time. Later, an anonymous source told The New York Times that the message on her jacket was actually aimed at anyone “who wanted to criticize her decision to visit the children in light of the administration’s aggressive immigration policies.” Still, it’s hard to interpret such a layered message through a jacket alone.
Photo: By Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.
July 2018: “Trash flair” Louboutins
Shortly after her Zara jacket fiasco, Trump headed off to Europe with her husband in a pair of red-and-nude Louboutins. While this normally wouldn’t be anything newsworthy, the particular heels worn by Trump in July 2018 were an $800 pair made from pieces of “hand-torn” Louboutin shopping bags and described by the brand as having an “audacious new trash flair.”
Photo: By Al Drago/Getty Images.
October 2018: Pith helmet in Kenya
Criticized for wearing the headwear associated with colonialism in Africa during her trip to Kenya in October 2018, Trump told the press that she wished “people would focus on what I do, not what I wear.” A few days later, a clip from her ABC interview with Tom Llamas showed Trump seated, with the hat strategically placed on a table beside her, making it all the more difficult for people to pay attention to anything else.
Photo: By Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images.
October 2016: Pussy-bow blouse
One of Trump’s first headline-making sartorial choices was the pink blouse she wore to one of the presidential debates in October 2016. The debate came just days after the release of the Access Hollywood tape, which caught a 2005-era Donald Trump on a hot mic making disparaging comments about women to Billy Bush, saying, “When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ‘em by the pussy.” The Gucci blouse Trump wore to the debate happened to feature a prominent “pussy-bow” detail, which may or may not have been a total coincidence. Melania, as usual, did not explain further.
By Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images.
May 2017: $51,500 Dolce & Gabbana jacket
Trump wore the floral Dolce & Gabbana jacket during a visit to Sicily in May 2017, a seemingly innocuous choice—Dolce & Gabbana is an Italian fashion house, and fashion diplomacy is a First Lady tradition. She raised eyebrows, however, when people learned that the coat retailed for $51,500.
By Giovanni Isolino/AFP/Getty Images.
August 2017: Hurricane heels
While Texas was dealing with the devastating effects of Hurricane Harvey in August 2017, Donald and Melania Trump suited up to see the damage firsthand, which, for Melania, included a pair of sky-high stilettos. While she changed into more sensible footwear before landing, it was an indelible image of the First Lady sauntering into a natural-disaster zone in heels.
By Alex Wong/Getty Images.
August 2017: “FLOTUS” baseball cap
While visiting a firehouse in Corpus Christi, Texas, in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, Trump took a page out of her husband’s own fashion handbook, wearing a baseball cap with “FLOTUS” embroidered across the front. Call it MAGA merch, but make it fashion.
By Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images.
September 2017: Gardening in Balmain
At first glance, Trump’s gardening look almost appeared sensible. While tending to the White House Kitchen Garden in September 2017, Trump wore dark jeans, a pair of Converse sneakers, gardening gloves, and a plaid shirt. This wasn’t just any plaid shirt, however. This was a $1,380 Balmain plaid shirt.
By Win McNamee/Getty Images.
January 2018: All-white at the State of the Union
For the State of the Union address in January 2018, Trump turned heads when she arrived in an all-white look, a color symbolically associated with the women’s suffrage movement and worn throughout the 2016 campaign by Hillary Clinton, as well as many Democratic women to Trump’s first congressional address. Was she wearing white as a middle finger to Clinton and the Democrats? Was she signaling her own suffragette leanings? As per usual, it was impossible to know.
By Chris Kleponis/Sipa USA.
June 2018: “I Really Don’t Care” jacket
The jacket read round the world. During a June 2018 visit to a detention center in Texas housing migrant children separated from their families at the Mexican border, Trump donned a Zara jacket that read “I Really Don’t Care, Do U?” As it turned out, people really did. Her particular choice in outerwear was almost universally deemed insensitive given where she was going and her husband’s immigration policies that resulted in families being broken up for weeks at a time. Later, an anonymous source told The New York Times that the message on her jacket was actually aimed at anyone “who wanted to criticize her decision to visit the children in light of the administration’s aggressive immigration policies.” Still, it’s hard to interpret such a layered message through a jacket alone.
By Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.
July 2018: “Trash flair” Louboutins
Shortly after her Zara jacket fiasco, Trump headed off to Europe with her husband in a pair of red-and-nude Louboutins. While this normally wouldn’t be anything newsworthy, the particular heels worn by Trump in July 2018 were an $800 pair made from pieces of “hand-torn” Louboutin shopping bags and described by the brand as having an “audacious new trash flair.”
By Al Drago/Getty Images.
October 2018: Pith helmet in Kenya
Criticized for wearing the headwear associated with colonialism in Africa during her trip to Kenya in October 2018, Trump told the press that she wished “people would focus on what I do, not what I wear.” A few days later, a clip from her ABC interview with Tom Llamas showed Trump seated, with the hat strategically placed on a table beside her, making it all the more difficult for people to pay attention to anything else.
