Fox’s Rachel Campos-Duffy On Trump’s Khashoggi Statement: ‘The Killing Aside,’ This Is What Folks Like About Him
Fox News is having a banner day when discussing the Jamal Khashoggi murder and President Donald Trump’s decision to side with the Saudis despite the CIA finding that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing of the Washington Post journalist.
Hours after Fox News guest and ex-Trump State Department adviser Christian Whiton said Khashoggi wasn’t a journalist and the Washington Post was culpable in his murder, Fox News contributor and former Real World star Rachel Campos-Duffy applauded Trump’s statement as being blunt and to the point while brushing off Khashoggi’s death.
During a roundtable discussion on Fox News’ panel show Outnumbered, co-host Dagen McDowell brought up a recent editorial by the Wall Street Journal that excoriated Trump’s two-page letter as crass and lacking in grace as it had no mention of “America’s abiding values and principles” while repeatedly citing the economic and financial relationship between Saudi Arabia and America.
“This is why people actually — the killing aside, this sort of frank, honest talk, no diplomatic cover for what is really behind his words, this is what people like about Donald Trump,” Campos-Duffy responded. “He is actually saying what has always been the case. Listen, this was a brutal killing. Guess what? These people in Saudi Arabia brutally kill people all of the time. They stone women, they cut off the arms of kids who steal bread. They behead people. This is a brutal part of the world.”
After Campos-Duffy said we have to make “difficult choices” and the only other choice was the reorient our foreign policy in the Middle East to Iran if the United States backs away from Saudi Arabia, McDowell pointed out that the Wall Street Journal editorial page is conservative and while it says the left is moralizing on this but Trump is allowing the crown prince to feel emboldened to do anything and suffer no consequences. The former reality star reiterated that moving away from Saudi Arabia means moving towards Iran.
Fellow co-host Arthel Neville then chimed in, admonishing Campos-Duffy and telling her she can’t just say “this killing aside.” She highlighted that there are human rights issues at play and that Khashoggi is someone who was a resident of the United States. Campos-Duffy interrupted, saying Khashoggi was a “member of the Muslim Brotherhood.”
Neville looked ready to argu8e with Campos-Duffy on this, but decided to stop at that moment, saying “I’m done.”
“I’m putting my rearview — I’m putting it in reverse. I’m backing out of this one,” she added as the other hosts asked her to finish her thought.
Watch the clip above, via Fox News.
