“We have human rights issues in this country too” - Former President Donald Trump defends hosting the Saudi-backed LIV Golf event

LIV Golf Series’ season-ending team championship in Miami saw former US President Donald Trump tee off in the pro-am event. Moreover, the event was held at the Trump Doral in Miami; a golf club owned by Trump.

Amid harsh criticism, Trump has now come forward to state that he has no regrets about hosting the 2022 LIV Golf Invitational at his golf club. Critics have slammed LIV for the Saudi Arabian administration’s alleged human rights violation cases. However, the former President defended his move to host the series and replied to the critics by saying that the US had 'human rights issues' too.

Donald Trump backs LIV Golf despite criticism

Trump was speaking in an interview with The New York Times when he faced multiple questions regarding his links with the Saudi-backed series. The former US president stated that he was happy to host the event and deflected other questions about the tour.

Speaking to reporters on the final day of the LIV Golf team championship in Miami, Donald Trump said:

"We have human rights issues in this country (USA) too.”

The former president went on to laud the Saudi Arabian government and said that the sports tour was 'very important' to them. While Trump stated that the administration had spent a 'lot of money' on the event, he didn’t disclose how much he received for hosting the final event.

Trump told the Times:

"These people have great spirit, they're phenomenal people and they have unlimited money — unlimited.”

According to reports, the Saudi Arabian government has invested over $2 billion in the tour so far and have plans to further expand the same. While the inaugural season was dubbed as being successful, it received criticism for the oil-rich country’s role in various human rights abuse cases.

Activists and critics had earlier brought up the royal family’s role in the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, the September 11 attacks and the country’s treatment of LGBTQ rights as reasons to cancel the event.

Many even claimed that the tour was an attempt at ‘sportswashing’ the Saudi administration and the royal family’s infamous reputation.

Trump slams the PGA Tour

Donald Trump had earlier spoken in support of LIV Golf. Speaking to the media at the Trump Doral in Miami, the former president and business tycoon said that the PGA Tour was ‘mishandling’ the rebel series situation.

He claimed more 'big names’' were headed to LIV Golf and called on the American tour to accept their mistake.

Claiming that the Saudi-backed series has an advantage in the LIV Golf-PGA Tour fight, Donald Trump said:

“The (PGA) Tour mishandled it so badly. The people at the top... something should happen with them. They mishandled it so badly… The Tour decided to go, as Richard Nixon said, to stonewall it. That didn’t work out too well for them."

"As we said before, what they did is bad for golf. They could have had something so incredible. And now they’ve punched into the pension fund in order to lift up prize money.”

It is also noteworthy that Trump has backed the Saudi-backed series since its inception. His Trump National Golf Club Bedminster had earlier hosted one of the series’ initial events.