Newsmax Ordered Hosts Not to Criticize Qatar After Royal Family Investment: Report

According to reporting from The Washington Post, Pro-Trump network Newsmax instructed its hosts to not criticize the government of Qatar after a member of the Qatari royal family invested $50 million in the then fledgling Fox News competitor. 

Sheikh Sultan bin Jassim Al Thani told The Washington Post he “saw potential for the investment to be profitable” and was acting individually, not on behalf of the Qatari government. Leaked internal company documents received by The Post show that Al Thani's investment was handled by a Cayman Islands based financial services company which was "set up with the intention of benefiting the State of Qatar."

"We were not allowed to criticize Qatar," one Newsmax employee told The Post. "We were told very clearly from the top down, no touching this." Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy reportedly reprimanded a host in 2018 who said negative things about the Middle Eastern nation. Ruddy has disputed this.

Al Thani's investment took place in 2019 and 2020 while Donald Trump was President. Around that same time Saudi Arabia and U.A.E were engaged in economic and diplomatic sanctions against Qatar for their government's alleged ties to terrorist organizations. At the time Qatar was seeking to be allied with the United States.

Ruddy is a long-time Trump supporter who is a frequent attendee at Mar-a-Lago events. Newsmax grabbed a significant amount of Fox's audience in 2020 and 2021 for continually pushing Trump's lies that the election was stolen, while Fox eased off on promoting Trump's rhetoric.