Saudi Arabia is bankrolling all-expenses-paid visits to Washington for American military veterans to oppose a new law allowing civil suits against alleged state sponsors of terrorism.
The trips include free lodging at the Trump International Hotel, according to correspondence obtained by the Daily Caller.
Qorvis MSLGROUP is spearheading the campaign to revise the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) on behalf of Saudi Arabia.
The p.r. powerhouse and other consultants are rounding up vets to convince Congress that the new law puts American troops at risk abroad.
The Saudis support an amendment that would limit the kingdom’s liability.
The amendment, proposed by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), would allow Americans to sue foreign governments on terror grounds only if a nation “knowingly engaged with a terrorist organization directly or indirectly, including financing.”
But one military vet from Tennessee, Ralph Malachias Gaskin, told the Daily Caller that the Saudi consultants tried to persuade him to go to DC without explaining the purpose of the trip.
“They literally never told me anything about what the trip was for,” Gaskin told the Web site. “It kind of ticked me off. I was asking very specific questions. I asked who was paying for it, and they wouldn’t tell me.”
Gaskin, in a subsequent Post interview, said, “They’re trying to exploit our veterans and use them as a photo op.”
Advocates for family members who lost loved ones on 9/11 cried foul, charging the Saudis are trying to pit military vets against terror victims — and intervene in US policy — to avoid responsibility.
“There is nothing held more sacrosanct than the protection of our troops . . . That is why we find the recently revealed actions made on behalf of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to ‘co-opt our troops’ so absolutely appalling,” advocates Kristen Breitweiser, Monica Gabrielle, Mindy Kleinberg and Lorie Van Auken said in a joint statement.
JASTA is controversial. Former President Barack Obama and US military and intelligence officials opposed it, arguing it could lead to copycat lawsuits in foreign countries against Americans. But Congress overrode Obama’s veto of the bill last year.
Qorvis, which has worked with Saudi Arabia since 2001, had no immediate comment.
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