Slain journalist’s widow criticizes state deal with PR firm advising Saudi Arabia
The widow of slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi said she was shocked to learn California intends to contract with the PR firm that helped rehabilitate Saudi Arabia’s authoritarian image after Saudi Prince Mohammad bin Salman ordered her husband’s killing in 2018.
Last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Office of Business and Economic Development published a notice of its intent to award a $19 million contract to Edelman, one of the world’s largest communications agencies, to help the state showcase itself nationwide as a destination for tourism, business and entertainment. The five-day protest period lapsed Wednesday, and the state is expected to formalize the deal for the California Brand Campaign later this month, which will run through the end of 2026.
Saudi Arabia hired Edelman starting in 2022 as the kingdom tried to shed its “pariah” image following revelations that bin Salman ordered a team of assassins to strangle Khashoggi at the Saudi embassy in Istanbul and dismember his body with a bone saw. Edelman still advised the Saudi royal family as of August 2025, according to federal lobbying filings. Khashoggi was a Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist who was critical of the Saudi royal family and government.
Hanan Elatr Khashoggi, who was living in the United Arab Emirates at the time of her husband’s killing, has since been granted political asylum in the U.S. Originally from Egypt, she fled the Persian Gulf in 2020 following a period of house arrest and surveillance by NSO Group, an Israeli spyware company that has targeted journalists and political dissidents. Elatr Khashoggi and Khashoggi married in an Islamic religious ceremony in the U.S. four months before his murder in October 2018.
Elatr Khashoggi said in an interview from her Virginia home that Saudi Arabia had worked hard to repair its image since its ties to the September 11 World Trade Center bombing and her husband’s assassination, which the CIA concluded bin Salman had ordered.
“They (Edelman) try to influence and try to give another picture about Saudi Arabia here in, especially in the U.S.,” she said. “But I’m wondering if the government of California, did he (Newsom) know about me, about my case, and what happened to me and what happened to my husband? (Was) he aware of it?”
The governor’s office previously distanced Newsom from the campaign, saying that he would not appear in the ads. Newsom has traveled abroad to countries like Brazil, China, Israel and El Salvador to foster relationships with those countries’ leaders, but he has not said much publicly about Saudi Arabia.
Last year, his office criticized a USC report on closing refineries as an “unsourced study by someone bankrolled by Saudi Arabia.” The study’s author, business professor Michael Mische, was previously chief executive of Synergy Consulting Group, which has advised Saudi Arabia and other Fortune 50 companies, according to his resume.
Newsom’s office redirected a request for comment to the business and economic office.
“This RFP is subject to formal state procurement processes — the Governor’s Office is not involved in the selection of a vendor,” spokesperson Tara Gallegos said in an email.
“Following a competitive state procurement process, Edelman was selected as the top-ranked proposal based on demonstrated economic development experience, as well as the strength of their creative concepts and campaign approach, led by their Los Angeles–based team and including partnerships with four California-based small businesses,” a spokesperson for the business and economic development office said in an emailed statement.
Saudi Arabia’s image PR campaign
Khashoggi was an outspoken critic of the Saudi government, which ranks as one of the most repressive in the world. Following a brief uproar in the U.S., Saudi Arabia has since rebranded itself as a progressive nation and has bankrolled major global sports ventures, music and comedy festivals, and ingratiated itself with former and current members of the White House administration.
Newsom has issued executive orders in the past barring state agencies from contracting with companies with ties to countries like Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. Bidders on the California Brand Campaign were required to sign a form affirming that they would get permission from the state Department of General Services to bid on the campaign contract if they also did business in Sudan’s Darfur region.
No such rules appear to exist for Saudi Arabia, whose leaders have been accused of arbitrarily arresting, jailing and torturing people who speak out against the government.
“I’m wondering if, as governor of California, he’s (Newsom) aware of all of this suffering,” Elatr Khashoggi said. The Biden administration granted bin Salman sovereign immunity in 2022 after King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud named bin Salman prime minister.
Edelman did not respond to two requests for comment. The agency has offices all over the world including one in Los Angeles, which is handling the California Brand Campaign contract. Other states like Michigan, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Georgia have launched similar brand campaigns.
The company is one of the largest PR agencies in the world. It has previously been criticized for its ties to oil companies, and has handled controversies for clients like Pennsylvania State University following the Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse scandal.
This story was originally published April 9, 2026 at 2:23 PM.
