CHARLESTON — Gov. Jim Justice, who is running for U.S. Senate, acknowledged meeting a representative of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund during a LIV Golf event this month at the resort his family owns.
Justice was vague on who he met or the nature of any discussions.
“I was at the golf tournament and going through. I was introduced to a fella; they said he was a Saudi representative, and I just said hello. But it was actually as I was going through a whole crowd of people and everything, spoke to him just a second and everything,” Justice said during a state news briefing.
“He said that he was a former soccer player and involved in working on something to do with the English soccer leagues and whatever. But that was it.”
That roughly matches a description of Yasir Al-Rumayyan, who is governor of the $600 billion Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia. It is not clear that is who Justice was referencing, though.
Al-Rumayyan is set to become chairman of the golf tour resulting from the combination of LIV Golf, which is bankrolled by the investment fund, and the PGA. He is chair of the Newcastle United club in the English Premiere League.
Al-Rumayyan has been asked to testify before the U.S. Senate about the deal between LIV Golf and the PGA, but he has refused, saying he would be an “inappropriate witness.”
Justice, a Republican whose family owns The Greenbrier Resort, is a leading contender for U.S. Senate. There, he would serve on committees and take votes influencing U.S. foreign policy.
State Sen. Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, has said it’s important to know who Justice met with during the LIV Golf tournament at The Greenbrier Aug. 4-6.
“As you know, Gov. Justice never placed his businesses in a blind trust, so has no ground to disassociate himself from decisions to host the Saudi Government’s LIV business. Given the financial dire straights of Jim Justice as he runs for U.S. Senate, it is curious that LIV (owned by an enemy of freedom) would be interested in the Greenbrier,” Tarr said.
“Another good question about Jim being at the Greenbrier for the LIV tournament is, ‘What conversations did he have with the Saudis on how else they can support his effort to become a U.S. senator aside from directing funds through the Greenbrier? How much did they pay?’ Either way the direct benefit to Jim’s business, and by proxy him, conjures analogy to Joe Biden and his questionable interests in China and the Ukraine.”
MetroNews asked Justice last week whether he met with representatives of the Saudi investment fund and whether involvement with the Saudi-backed event is appropriate for a candidate for U.S. Senate. The governor responded then by saying the event was enjoyable for himself and others who attended, but he did not address the aspect of the question about meeting Saudi representatives.
The online press briefings generally mean reporters get a shot at one question with no followups, so MetroNews asked again this week.
‘Sportswashing’
The 9/11 Families United organization, representing people whose loved ones died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, has criticized LIV Golf Tour events bankrolled by a Saudi investment arm as “sportswashing” meant to launder the regime’s human rights record.
Saudi Arabia has long been under scrutiny for involvement with those attacks that killed 2,977 people. The deaths included former West Virginia University quarterback Chris Gray, Parkersburg native Mary Lou Hague, Dr. Paul Ambrose of Huntington, WVU graduate Jim Samuel, West Virginia Wesleyan graduate John William Farrell, and Shelley Marshall, wife of Morgantown native Donn Marshall.
Saudi Arabia nationals living in the United States had interactions with the 9/11 hijackers, according to an FBI report declassified in 2021. Families of victims had long asked for that report to be unveiled. An earlier 9/11 report said Saudi nationals played key roles in funding Al Queda. Like Osama bin Laden, 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis. The Saudi government has denied playing a role in the attack.
In another intelligence report declassified in 2021, U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi: “The Crown Prince viewed Khashoggi as a threat to the Kingdom and broadly supported using violent measures if necessary to silence him.”
LIV golf, which stands for the Roman numeral 54, the number of holes to be played at its events, is funded through the Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia overseen by the crown prince.
The 9/11 Families United group has been consistently critical of the golf tour, describing it as “sportswashing” to wipe away the reputation of human rights abuses.
When LIV Golf and the PGA announced joining forces earlier this year, 9/11 Families United described its members as “shocked and deeply offended.”
The 9/11 Families group also sent a letter to former President Donald Trump to highlight the pain of LIV Golf events on Trump properties.
“Your decision to maintain an ongoing business partnership with the Saudi government has been deeply hurtful to the 9/11 community,” the group wrote in a letter signed by national chairwoman Terry Strada, whose husband was killed in the terrorist attack.
