Saudi Officials Reportedly Offered Super Bowl Tickets To Fox And CNN Personalities
- 6 years ago
Officials in Saudi Arabia are said to have offered Brett Baier of Fox News and CNN’s Jake Tapper Super Bowl tickets and chartered flights to and from Minneapolis.
Officials in Saudi Arabia are said to have offered Bret Baier of Fox News and CNN's Jake Tapper Super Bowl tickets and chartered flights to and from Minneapolis. The Washington Post, which published the story on Sunday, notes that both men reportedly declined. Tapper actually tweeted about the tickets a bit over a week ago, writing: "I of course said NO. Ive never accepted anything like that. But I wondered: who said yes?" "Those kinds of favors are also part of the corruption in DC — the railed-against swamp — that really stinks," Tapper further said. "And has in many ways helped to prop up the transactional US/Saudi alliance — despite 9/11, human rights abuses, crimes against Yemen etc." In its Sunday report, amid a firestorm of criticism of Saudi Arabia over the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the Post outlined a number of the ways the nation has worked to gain favor in the capital. Those listed include, "doling out millions to lobbyists, blue-chip law firms, prominent think tanks and large defense contractors," and throwing lavish events attended by important people. The New York Times recently described efforts that the country has undertaken to influence public opinion as well. It reports that Saudi Arabia's leadership has hired a bevy of Internet trolls to identify and silence critics and push pro-government messages.
Officials in Saudi Arabia are said to have offered Bret Baier of Fox News and CNN's Jake Tapper Super Bowl tickets and chartered flights to and from Minneapolis. The Washington Post, which published the story on Sunday, notes that both men reportedly declined. Tapper actually tweeted about the tickets a bit over a week ago, writing: "I of course said NO. Ive never accepted anything like that. But I wondered: who said yes?" "Those kinds of favors are also part of the corruption in DC — the railed-against swamp — that really stinks," Tapper further said. "And has in many ways helped to prop up the transactional US/Saudi alliance — despite 9/11, human rights abuses, crimes against Yemen etc." In its Sunday report, amid a firestorm of criticism of Saudi Arabia over the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the Post outlined a number of the ways the nation has worked to gain favor in the capital. Those listed include, "doling out millions to lobbyists, blue-chip law firms, prominent think tanks and large defense contractors," and throwing lavish events attended by important people. The New York Times recently described efforts that the country has undertaken to influence public opinion as well. It reports that Saudi Arabia's leadership has hired a bevy of Internet trolls to identify and silence critics and push pro-government messages.