Donald Trump's growing relationship with the Saudi government, now that he has agreed to host three more of the controversial LIV golf tournaments, along with son-in-law Jared Kushner getting a stunning $2 billion investment in the private equity firm he now heads after leaving the White House, should do more than raise eyebrows in Congress, yet there is no rush by a substantial number of members of Congress to investigate.
According to one political analyst writing for The Nation, what should call for an investigation similar to the former president's ties to Russia is only generating passing interest, and there is little appetite to dig into the relationship as the former president runs for the nation's highest office again despite his financial ties with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
In his Nation column, Jeet Heer explained that the reach of the Saudi government into the various branches of the U.S. government -- including the military -- is so deep and pervasive that there is little appetite to open a can of worms that could cut across party lines.
Writing that, "Russiagate received far more congressional and press attention," he added, "The political reason the Democrats focused on Russiagate is obvious. Russia is a long-standing American adversary; Saudi Arabia is an American ally central to the United States’ goal of maintaining hegemony in the Middle East."
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He then pointed to a weekend report from the Washington Post's Michael Kranish, who wrote, "A former administration official allied with Kushner, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the matter publicly, said there are numerous examples of top former government employees doing business with people they once dealt with while in public service. Kushner had such a broad agenda that it would be unfair to block business relationships with those he knew from his White House days, the former official said.”
As Heer noted, that would qualify as a “we all do it” defense, before adding, "In the case of Saudi Arabia, it’s true enough factually even if we question it morally."
"The Trump family might be the biggest pigs munching away at the Saudi trough, but they aren’t the only ones feeding there," he wrote. "If Trump is the Republican nominee in 2024, his corrupt deals with MBS should rightly be one of the main arguments used to thwart his third White House bid. Alas, given the history of Trump’s actual presidency and post-presidency, most Democrats and even Trump critics in the media will shy away from the issue. Saudi corruption touches too many powerful interests to be a safe target."
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