The pro-Saudi tabloid that showed up on newsstands at Wal-Mart, Safeway and other US supermarkets last month might have been shared with officials at the Saudi Embassy in Washington around three weeks before its publication, according to two anonymous sources who spoke to AP on Tuesday.
The magazine's publisher, American Media, Inc. (AMI), which publishes popular US tabloids such as “The National Enquirer” and “US Weekly,” has previously been accused of having links to US President Donald Trump.
Two anonymous individuals reportedly obtained metadata embedded in the PDF file of “The New Kingdom,” the paean to Riyadh, that reveals the magazine was produced by an AMI production employee at 8:41 p.m. February 19. AP did not reveal any information on where the individuals work or what affiliations they may have to AMI.
The magazine was then distributed internally among officials at Saudi Arabia's embassy in Washington. It also made its way to the embassy's military office and to Nail al-Jubeir, brother of Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir. By February 20, the publication had been circulated to Washington foreign policy contacts, according to the two anonymous contacts.
The recent revelations suggest that the $13.99 magazine, which consists of nearly 100 pages commending the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, are part of a global campaign to shift the Western public's opinions of the oil-rich Middle Eastern nation.