Conservatives mount a whisper campaign smearing Khashoggi in defense of Trump

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Washington Post

PowerPost

Conservatives mount a whisper campaign smearing Khashoggi in defense of Trump

By Robert Costa and Karoun Demirjian
October 18 at 9:05 PM

Hard-line Republicans and conservative commentators are mounting a dark whisper campaign against Jamal Khashoggi that is designed to protect President Trump from criticism of his handling of the dissident journalist’s alleged murder by Saudi Arabian operatives — and support Trump’s continued aversion to a forceful response to the oil-rich desert kingdom.

In recent days, a cadre of conservative House Republicans allied with Trump has been privately exchanging articles from right-wing outlets that fuel suspicion of Khashoggi, highlighting his association with the Muslim Brotherhood during his youth and raising conspiratorial questions about his work decades ago as an embedded reporter covering Osama bin Laden, according to four GOP officials involved in the discussions who were not authorized to speak publicly.

Those aspersions — which many lawmakers have been wary of stating publicly due to the political risks of doing so — have begun to flare into public view as conservative media outlets have amplified the claims, which are aimed in part in protecting Trump as he works to preserve the U.S.-Saudi relationship and avoid confronting the Saudis on human rights.

“Khashoggi was tied to the Muslim Brotherhood,” Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner asserted on Thursday’s highly rated “Outnumbered” show. “I just put it out there because it is in the constellation of things that are being talked about.” Faulkner then dismissed another guest who called her claim “iffy.” ... The message was echoed on the campaign trail. Virginia Republican Corey A. Stewart, who is challenging Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), told a local radio program Thursday that “Khashoggi was not a good guy himself.”
....

Read more at PowerPost

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/

Liz Sly, Ashley Parker and Josh Dawsey contributed to this report.

Robert Costa is a national political reporter for The Washington Post. He covers the White House, Congress, and campaigns. He joined The Post in January 2014. He is also the moderator of PBS's "Washington Week" and a political analyst for NBC News and MSNBC. Follow https://twitter.com/costareports

Karoun Demirjian is a congressional reporter covering national security, including defense, foreign policy, intelligence and matters concerning the judiciary. She was previously a correspondent based in The Post's bureau in Moscow. Follow https://twitter.com/karoun


Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/conservatives-mount-a-whisper-campaign-smearing-khashoggi-in-defense-of-trump/2018/10/18/feb92bd0-d306-11e8-b2d2-f397227b43f0_story.html

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Let me know when you think the Republican administration has hit bottom.

-- -- -- -- --

Shameless and repulsive.

Link to tweet

[Iliyah]

1. Sick.

[Solly Mack]

2. I wish I was surprised.

[watoos]

3. It's what the corporate media does,

The importance of the corporate media's bias is extremely ignored.

It's not just AM radio and Fox, all of cable news pushes the right wing narratives. It's why Democrats are always behind the 8 ball.

[SWBTATTReg]

4. Can't bury the truth. RIP, Mr. Khashoggi. I think that these people run a very serious ...

risk of making Mr. Khashoggi a martyr.

[groundloop]

5. Come on Tiny, admit that it was a cold blooded murder

[C_U_L8R]

6. Hey Republicans

It's not a whisper campaign if we can hear you. Dumbasses.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

7. This is reprehensible.

And irrelevant. The man was murdered. Tortured and dismembered while still ALIVE. His fingers were cut off within minutes of them descending upon him like a pack of rabid jackals. And he was murdered for what ? Criticizing MBS (which I'm beginning to translate in Macho Bull Shit). Challanging a corrupt man ? He did nothing illegal, and even if he did, where is all the outrage over "due process ?"

For the party of "law and order," they are showing their truest, ugliest colours. More like lawlessness and chaos.

[TygrBright]

8. SERIOUSLY?!? I'm sorry, I cannot think of a living being who "deserves" what happened...

...to Khashoggi.

I can't even think of anyone dead who merit(ed) being viciously butchered alive.

What kind of "crime" would make a normal human being say the equivalent of "Well, okay then, I guess it's alright that the most powerful guy in America would connive at letting that terrible person be tortured and dismembered with a bone saw while still alive. Alrighty, let's head out to the back nine!"?

It's just inconceivable that they'd believe a little character-blackening would make everyone perfectly okay with the idea that a brutal torture-murder was carried out to intimidate journalists and discourage the press from challenging autocratic barbarian tyrants.

Breathes there the man with soul so dead...

shudderingly,
Bright

[BlueWI]

9. Reprehensible, but no longer surprising.

Freedom of the press it at risk. Whether we saw it coming or not, essential processes for safeguarding democracy are in peril. Action is needed, on everyone's part.

[Canoe52]

10. Of course they are...it's what they do.

[SunSeeker]

11. Yup, my Trumper in-laws have been reposting fake news posts saying Khashoggi was a terrorist.

I am so repulsed by them. I dread Thanksgiving.

[modrepub]

12. You can find this reference in the comment section of Yahoo News

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-severe-consequences-saudis-murdered-khashoggi-050930881--politics.html

See comment from Sherwood O

[BumRushDaShow]

13. Craven.

[watoos]

14. Trump already called him

an enemy of the people, and called "him" an "it." As long as the right believes there are different values of people according to race or religion, as long as they believe that some people are worth more than other people, the death of an "it" won't faze them in the least.

[ck4829]

15. Wow

[KayF]

16. it won't be a whisper for long

this will be the overt position of the GOP, including Susan Collins: Khashoggi deserved it. MBS will become a right-wing hero, and Saudi Arabia will be as beloved as Israel.

[watoos]

20. Yes, you understand.

It's all about the narrative that is pushed by the corporate media.
The narrative is that we need SA as an ally against Iran, I'm guessing that narrative is Israeli influenced. I listened to a combat vet talk about fighting the Saudis in Iraq, about how many of his men they killed. I listened to the same man talk about fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, Taliban who were radicalized in Madrassas in Pakistan that were funded by Saudi Arabia.

IMO, Saudi Arabia is a bigger contributor to terrorism than Iran is, but that narrative will never hit the M$M.

We at the very least need to stop selling weapons to SA. We need to stop helping with the blockade that prevents food and aid from reaching Yemen. We need to Make America America Again as Michael Avenatti says.

[KayF]

25. Trump hurt that narrative

by being so blatant that it was about the money. He didn't say anything about terrorism, or Iran, he only talked about the money. He'll probably shift it but his first reaction will always be on tape.

[Delphinus]

17. Jesus.

Will they stop at nothing?

[Botany]

19. no

See President Trump and Russia

[ck4829]

27. Nope

[Botany]

18. Trump Jr. is big into this crap

n/t

[watoos]

21. It's Kushner not Jr.

[Botany]

22. Trump Jr. is big into this crap

Washington (CNN)Donald Trump Jr. retweeted an unsubstantiated claim on Friday insinuating missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi is a terrorism sympathizer -- a move that comes as the administration of his father, President Donald Trump, faces pressure on how to respond to the journalist's disappearance.

Khashoggi, a former Saudi royal insider who became a critic of the country's government, disappeared last week after he went into the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, to obtain paperwork to marry his Turkish fiancée.

Turkish authorities have said they believe Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post, was killed inside the consulate, a startling allegation that is firmly denied by the Saudis.

The series of tweets that Trump Jr. retweeted Friday included a post by Patrick Poole, who according to his Twitter profile is a national security and terrorism correspondent for PJ Media, a conservative-leaning collaborative news and commentary blog formerly known as Pajamas Media.

https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2018/10/13/donald-trump-jr-jamal-khashoggi-nr-vpx.cnn

[SpankMe]

23. Assholes. Republicans are pure assholes. n/t

[Blue_Tires]

24. IMPEACHMENT WHEN

[ck4829]

26. Kick

[ck4829]

28. Kick