Amal Clooney called out President Trump and his contempt for the press at Wednesday’s United Nations Correspondents Association Awards in New York City.
The recipient of the global citizen of the year award, who attended with husband George Clooney, talked about the hostility toward journalists across the globe. She mentioned Myanmar, as well as “autocratic regimes from North Korea, to Philippines to Hungary, Turkey and Brazil.”
And the human rights attorney put blame on the nation’s leader.
“The U.S. President has given such regimes a green light and labeled the press in this country the ‘enemy of the people,’ ” Clooney told the audience. “And of course two months ago a Washington Post journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, walked into a consulate in Istanbul and was brutally tortured to death.”
Khashoggi, a legal U.S. resident, was murdered inside a Saudi consulate in Turkey last month by a team of Saudi operatives. Trump has condemned the incident but argued it should not harm the U.S.-Saudi alliance or stop U.S. arms sales to the kingdom.
“The crime against Jamal Khashoggi was a terrible one, and one that our country does not condone,” Trump said in a statement released by the White House. “Indeed, we have taken strong action against those already known to have participated in the murder.”
He added: “That being said, we may never know all of the facts surrounding the murder of Mr. Jamal Khashoggi. In any case, our relationship is with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. They have been a great ally in our very important fight against Iran. The United States intends to remain a steadfast partner of Saudi Arabia…”
Contributing: Deirdre Shesgreen
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