Amal Clooney blasted President Donald Trump on Wednesday for encouraging global hostility against journalists that has escalated to murder.
Clooney, a human rights lawyer, said in a speech at the United Nations Correspondents Association Awards at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City that reporters worldwide are “under attack.” She recounted the imprisonment of journalists she represented in Myanmar, and called out “autocratic regimes” such as North Korea, the Philippines, Hungary, Turkey and Brazil for contributing to “the chilling effect” on the media.
“The U.S. president has given such regimes a green light and labeled the press in this country the enemy of the people,” Clooney said at the gathering, attended by her husband, George Clooney.
“And of course two months ago a Washington Post journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, walked into a consulate in Istanbul and was brutally tortured to death,” she continued, in a video posted by Reuters’ Michelle Nichols.
The CIA determined that Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the assassination, but Trump has refused to blame the leader, with whom the U.S. has a multibillion-dollar arms deal.
Amal Clooney previously criticized Trump for ridiculing Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony during Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were high school students.