Liberal author Fran Lebowitz quipped that President Donald Trump should suffer the same gruesome fate as journalist Jamal Khashoggi during an appearance Friday on HBO.
"We should turn him over to the Saudis, you know, his buddies," Lebowitz said on Real Time with Bill Maher. "The same Saudis who got rid of that reporter. Maybe they could do the same for him."
Some in the left-leaning crowd applauded and cheered in the clip flagged by Newsbusters editor Brent Baker.
Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident and journalist with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, was strangled by Saudi agents at their consulate in Istanbul and then dismembered with a bone saw last year, according to Turkish intelligence. The Trump administration has been fiercely criticized for not holding Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to account for his reported role in the murder, which drew outrage around the world.
On HBO’s @RealTimers on Friday night, guest #FranLebowitz suggested murdering @realDonaldTrump: 'We should turn him over to the Saudis, his buddies. The same Saudis who got rid of that reporter. Maybe they could do the same for him." #RealTime pic.twitter.com/X5IDzZGxM8
— Brent Baker (@BrentHBaker) May 18, 2019
Lebowitz has been a longtime critic of Trump, calling him "stupid" and a "poor person's idea of a rich person." She added Democrats should impeach Trump. Maher is one of the leading anti-Trump voices in late night, calling him a "traitor" for his campaign's Russian contacts in spite of the Robert Mueller report's conclusions.
Maher addressed the controversy later on in the program. He noted her comments had drawn a response online and she said she regretted saying it. Maher added that despite his dislike of Trump, he didn't want to see any physical harm done to him.
"I regret saying it," Lebowitz said. "I regret that everyone misinterpreted it, because they misinterpret everything."
Now Lebowitz claims she did not know that she said what she said
She says she regrets that everyone 'misinterpreted" her commentspic.twitter.com/SBtoTPFfEb
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) May 18, 2019