This scandal is spiraling out of control for the administration…
“Accepting gifts from foreign nations is never a good practice. It threatens intelligence and national security. Especially when that nation supports a terrorist organization and allows those terrorist regimes to live on its soil,” Haley wrote on X.
“Regardless of how beautiful the plane may be, it opens a door and implies the President and US can be bought. If this were Biden, we would be furious,” she added.
Trump intends on upgrading the jet so that he can use it as Air Force One and then take it with him when he leaves office for his presidential library. The fact that doing so would be a blatant violation of the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause clearly has no bearing on his thought process. He believes himself to be above the law at this point.
Haley isn’t the only Republican voicing concerns about this jet fiasco either. Ted Cruz has warned that the plane “poses significant espionage and surveillance problems.” For once, the Texas senator is right. The jet could have been loaded up with equipment that will allow the Qataris to spy on the president.
Right-wing radio host Erick Erickson has said that Trump should reject the jet, stating that Qatar is a “rogue nation.”
“Pam Bondi, the Attorney General of the United States, was a lobbyist for Qatar,” said Erickson. “She made $119,000 a month. I don’t think that we should agree with Pam Bondi saying, ‘Oh, yes, Qatar can gift this to the Department of Defense on condition it goes to the Trump Presidential Library.’ I think she’s opening Donald Trump up to legal trouble later.”
“Qatar spends a lot of money to improve its image while paying terrorists to murder American citizens,” he added. “And I do not think the president’s Air Force One substitute should be a plane bought with the same money used to kill American citizens.”
Despite what Trump is insisting, it wouldn’t be “stupid” of him to reject this gift. It would be the wise and legal course of action. The American people have no way of knowing what Qatar expects from him in return from this bribe, but it’s safe to presume that it will be policy that serves their interests rather than ours.
