SHAMEFUL — Media Montage Shows How They Blamed President Trump For Khashoggi Murder

MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough suggested that Khashoggi’s killing could be connected to Trump’s criticism of The Washington Post: “Did Donald Trump, who has always been critical of ‘The Washington Post,’ always been critical of his ownership, did anybody in the administration, did Jared Kushner, did they give MBS sort of a nod and a wink to say it’s okay? We need answers.”

On his CNN show “Reliable Sources.” Brian Stelter hosted a segment on whether Trump’s media criticism played a role in Khashoggi’s killing. He asked his guest, the editor of the Washington Post’s editorial page, Fredd Hiatt: “I wonder if you look at what has happened in the last 12 days, and you wonder if the ‘enemy of the people rhetoric,’ and not just from President Trump, but from other world leaders, has anything to do with this, anything at all?”

The Post’s Hiatt was a bit more circumspect than Stelter, but still suggested such a connection is fair. Speaking of threats against journalists, Hiatt said, “I do think that it is happening in part because the United States is retreating from the traditional role as a leader in the world, and standing up for the democratic values and including freedom of expression. So that is all true, and Brian, you are right it is part of the big picture.”

MSNBC’s Ali Velshi argued there’s a clear line to be drawn between Khashoggi’s murder and Trump’s rhetoric. Trump, in decrying Khashoggi’s killing, appeared to be contradicting himself, Velshi said: “The president expressing concern that Jamal Khashoggi is a report, he’s a columnist, really, and a critic of the Saudi government. That stands in contrast with a message that the president has frequently sent to the American people and to his supporters, that the media are the enemy of the people.”