Bob Casey campaign won’t renew ad that drew criticism from widow of Jamal Khashoggi

Bob Casey’s Senate campaign in Pennsylvania says it won’t renew an ad that drew a complaint from the widow of a U.S.-based journalist who was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018.

The campaign said in a statement Friday that it sympathizes with the widow of Jamal Khashoggi, but didn't plan to immediately pull the ad, which uses the image of the journalist to criticize opponent Dave McCormick for ties to the Saudi government.

Campaign spokesperson Maddy McDaniel said that the ad, which the widow said was insensitive, would be cycled out next week as planned.

“There is no dispute that David McCormick demanded his hedge fund show support and loyalty to Mr. Khashoggi’s murderers, all to protect his own business interests,” spokesperson McDaniel said. “We have the utmost sympathy for what Mrs. Khashoggi has experienced.”

She said the campaign spoke with the widow, Hanan Elatr Khashoggi, who says the ad is insensitive and incorrectly identifies her late husband as an American.

“The commercial is a very painful reminder of how my husband died, and as you can imagine, I have been traumatized every day for the past 6 years,” Hanan Elatr Khashoggi said in an email to Casey’s Senate office obtained by POLITICO. “I take no position on the politics of your Senate race, but I am dedicated to correcting misconceptions about my late husband.”

Jamal Khashoggi, who had written columns critical of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for The Washington Post, was killed by officials of the government of Saudi Arabia inside the consulate — an incident that caused a serious breach in relations between the U.S. and its longtime ally.

U.S. intelligence officials later determined the killing had been authorized by Prince Mohammed, the de facto ruler of the kingdom.

In the ad, the Casey campaign alleges that McCormick, a wealthy Republican businessman, “demanded his hedge fund stay loyal to the murderers to protect their investments” in Saudi Arabia.

The widow objected to the characterization of her husband as an American, since he was a Saudi citizen who lived in the U.S., or any mention of him at all and discussed the issue with the campaign along with her lawyer, Randa Fahmy — a donor and self-described “good friend” of McCormick.