Families of 9/11 victims have savaged Donald Trump in a new advert for hosting a Saudi-funded golf tournament 50 miles from Ground Zero.
The 9/11 Justice group accused Mr Trump of taking hundreds of millions of dollars from an “evil regime” for hosting the breakaway LIV Golf event at his Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, this weekend.
“It’s disgusting,” said one woman, while holding up a photo of her father who died in the al Qaeda attacks.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal published on Tuesday, Mr Trump appeared unconcerned about the families’ objections.
“I don’t know much about the 9/11 families, I don’t know what is the relationship to this, and their very strong feelings, and I can understand their feelings,” he said.
“I can’t really comment on that because I don’t know exactly what they’re saying, and what they’re saying who did what.”
He told the WSJ that LIV Golf has been worth “billions of dollars” in publicity for the oil-rich Gulf state.
In the advert released on Tuesday, another woman who lost family on 9/11 asks Mr Trump: “How much money to turn your back on your own country.”
A man who holds up a photo of his father who was killed in the World Trade Center attacks, says: “I’m never going to forget, never going to forgive the golfers for taking this blood money.”
He also points out that Bedminster is “less than 50 miles from Ground Zero.”
The advert calls on people to call Bedminster on 908-470-4400 to “let them know it’s wrong”.
Last week, 9/11 Justice wrote to the former president to call on him to cancel the event over Saudi Arabia’s ties to al Qaeda.
“The Saudi nation is largely responsible for the death of our loved ones and for the horrific attack on America. And you know it,” said Brett Eagleson, president of 9/11 Justice and the son of a World Trade Center victim John Bruce Eagleson.
The Saudi government has denied any involvement in the attacks, and a report by the 9/11 Commission released in 2004 said it had not found any evidence that Saudi institutions of officials had funded the terrorist organisation.
But victims rights groups continue to seek the release of more classified information from US authorities.
In a 2016 Fox News interview, Mr Trump blamed the Saudis for the attack.
“Who blew up the World Trade Center?” he said on Fox & Friends. “It wasn’t the Iraqis — it was Saudi. Take a look at Saudi Arabia. Open the documents.”
Mr Trump has a history of making dubious claims about the terror attacks on New York on 11 September 2001.
After the Twin Towers fell, he bizarrely claimed in an interview that day that his building at 40 Wall St was now the tallest in downtown Manhattan.
He also outrageously said that he saw thousands of New Jersey Muslims celebrating on 9/11 while campaigning for president in 2015.
Despite there being no evidence that any such celebration took place, Mr Trump doubled down on the remarks when challenged on them in later interviews.
The LIV Golf league, headed by Australian golfer Greg Norman, has enticed high-profile players including Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Louis Oosthuizen to defect from the PGA Tour with the promise of $25m in prize money at each event.
The PGA Tour voted last year to strip an agreement to play the 2022 PGA Championship at Trump Bedminster after the deadly attack on the US Capitol.
LIV Golf issued a statement last week expressing their “deepest sympathy” for the families of 9/11 victims.
