“Jim Justice Cozies Up To” Saudi Arabia, Profits Off This Weekend’s Saudi-Backed LIV Golf Tournament

Event highlights Justice’s  “controversial business ties to an authoritarian country.”

As the Saudi backed LIV Golf Tournament is held this weekend at Jim Justice’s resort, multiple outlets are reporting how the event highlights Justice’s “controversial business ties to an authoritarian country”, how he “cozies” up to Saudi Arabia and how he has “courted the Saudi-backed venture and has called the kingdom a key ally.”

“Jim Justice’s close ties to Saudi Arabia, mounting financial issues and ongoing scandal over his work schedule all raise serious doubts about his ability to represent the people of West Virginia,” said DSCC spokesperson Amanda Sherman Baity.

See more below:

National Journal: Hotline’s Latest Edition 
By Sydney Kashiwagi
August 4, 2023

WEST VIRGINIA: Jim Justice Cozies up to Saudi-Backed LIV Golf.

• The Saudi-backed LIV Golf tournament may soon be coming to the grounds of Gov. Jim Justice’s (R) Greenbrier resort following active negotiations with the tour. 

• JUSTICE SAYS: “At the end of the day, Saudi Arabia is our ally. We should be proud of the fact that they are just that.”
  
  
• LIV ALREADY IN HOT WATER. The move comes after the Senate held a hearing on the merger between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour. Meanwhile, former President Trump has also partnered with LIV to host the league’s tournaments.
  
  
• HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES. Saudi Arabia is a known perpetrator of human rights abuses, which came into clearer view following the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The families of 9/11 victims also blame the Saudi Arabian government for playing a role in the 9/11 terrorist attacks and recently protested an LIV Golf tournament Trump hosted in New Jersey.

The Daily Beast: Pay Dirt
By Roger Sollenberger
August 3, 2023

• This weekend, the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV golf tour will descend on the luxury hotel and resort owned by West Virginia GOP Gov. Jim Justice.
  
  
• The LIV tour has made headlines for its controversial Saudi funding and the cash its U.S. events have pumped into properties owned by Donald Trump, whose financial ties to the authoritarian kingdom and the tour are reportedly being scrutinized by special counsel Jack Smith.

• Justice, at one point a billionaire, also has controversial business ties to an authoritarian country—in 2015, his mining company bought back a coal outfit it sold to Russian industrial giant Mechel OAO. He’s also tied to a DOJ case, after prosecutors sued his son and his coal empire earlier this year, seeking to collect more than $5 million in unpaid civil fines for violating federal law.

• And last year, the governor included his 11,000-acre Greenbrier resort as part of a federal “opportunity zone,” a special designation that uses tax breaks to give an economic boost to low-income, underdeveloped communities.

Punchbowl: Punchbowl News AM
By Max Cohen
August 4, 2023

• West Virginia Senate update: Starting today, LIV Golf’s latest tournament is coming to Gov. Jim Justice’s Greenbrier resort. Justice, who’s running for Senate in the Mountaineer State, has courted the Saudi-backed venture and has called the kingdom a key ally of the United States.

• Democrats will be looking to slam Justice’s involvement in his business empire and ties to Saudi Arabia if he advances out of the primary to potentially face Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.).

Roll Call: At the Races
By Niels Lesniewski, Daniela Altimari and Mary Ellen McIntire
August 3, 2023

• Saudi-backed LIV Golf heads to the The Old White Golf Course at The Greenbrier, the resort of West Virginia Republican governor and Senate candidate Jim Justice. The golf league and its pending merger with the PGA Tour has faced considerable scrutiny on Capitol Hill. The tournament runs Friday through Sunday.

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