Saudi officials once offered Super Bowl tickets to a pair of prominent broadcasters as part of a broad effort to cultivate influence in the United States capital.
The Washington Post reported on Sunday that Saudi officials offered CNN’s Jake Tapper and Fox News’ Bret Baier Super Bowl tickets and chartered flights to the event earlier this year.
Tapper offered a detailed account of the offer earlier this month on Twitter, writing that he “was contacted by the Saudi Embassy and asked if I wanted to fly to/from Minnesota for the game with them and attend as their guest.”
“I of course said NO. Ive never accepted anything like that. But I wondered: who said yes?” Tapper tweeted, adding that “those kinds of favors are also part of the corruption in DC — the railed-against swamp — that really stinks. And has in many ways helped to prop up the transactional US/Saudi alliance — despite 9/11, human rights abuses, crimes against Yemen etc.”
Those kinds of favors are also part of the corruption in DC — the railed-against swamp — that really stinks. And has in many ways helped to prop up the transactional US/Saudi alliance — despite 9/11, human rights abuses, crimes against Yemen etc.
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) October 12, 2018
A spokesperson from Fox News told The Post that Baier also rejected the offer.
The anecdotes came as part of a wide-ranging Post report into Saudi Arabia’s attempts to court influence in Washington. Among other things, the report details the kingdom’s efforts to court reporters and think tank analysts.
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Saudis offered Super Bowl tickets to Tapper, Bret Baier in effort to court influence https://t.co/Ce8hUWFYYt pic.twitter.com/AybrJSbclH
— The Hill (@thehill) October 22, 2018
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