CNN
—
Several Republican senators expressed misgivings that the Trump administration plans to accept a luxury jet from the Qatari royal family to use as Air Force One, noting the potential for security and legal risks.
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, a member of the Senate GOP leadership team, said that President Donald Trump and the White House “need to look at the constitutionality” of the issue.
“I’d be checking for bugs is what I’d be checking for,” Capito said.
Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri argued that it “would be better if Air Force One were a big, beautiful jet made in the United States of America.”
Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana said he needs to research whether it will pass legal muster. “We ought to follow the law,” he said.
Given the massive value of a Boeing 747-8, the move is unprecedented and raises substantial ethical and legal questions. A Qatari official said the plane is technically being gifted from the Qatari Ministry of Defense to the Pentagon, describing it more as a government-to-government transaction instead of a personal one. The Defense Department will then retrofit the plane for the president’s use with security features and modifications.
Trump said Sunday night that the Defense Department plans to accept the luxury jet as a “GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE,” on social media. He said the multimillion dollar jet would be used on a temporary basis “in a very public and transparent transaction.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that the legal details on accepting a Boeing 747-8 jet to replace Air Force One as a gift from the Qatari royal family are “still being worked out.”
“Any donation to this government is always done in full compliance with the law,” she added.
Ethics experts have raised concerns about the potential move and questioned whether accepting the plane will violate the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause, whichprohibits a president from receiving an “emolument” or profit from any “King, Prince, or foreign state” unless Congress consents.
Not all in the party criticized the move and some defended the Trump administration.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville told CNN that, as long as it’s legal, “free is good. You know, we don’t have a lot of money right now to buy things like that.”
The Alabama Republican said he’d flown on Air Force One before and the plane was “old,” adding, “If it’s legal for him to accept that gift and be able to fly on that for the next four years, or three and a half years. I think it’s great. It’ll save us money.”
Asked if he thinks the Qataris want anything in return, Tuberville assessed, “I don’t think there’s a lot that we can give them, other than be one of our allies.”
He also pointed to supply chain issues to justify the transaction, saying in his state, which has a large Boeing manufacturing presence, “you can’t get an airplane for about six or seven years right now because of the backlog.”
“We’ve got to get Boeing going again. I think that’s one of the key points. But at the end of the day, if it would save us money, I think it’d be awesome,” he said.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma told reporters asking about the Qatari jet that it was the “stupidest” issue and he has “zero issue” with the president accepting it.
“We have received gifts — we can go back through land gifts and go back through these countries given us gifts in the past. Why is it a big deal?” he said to reporters.
Pressed on reports that the plan is for the plane to go to Trump’s presidential library at the end of his term, Mullin argued that other presidents have planes at their libraries — though admitted he didn’t know if those were from the Qataris.
“Do you think he’s compromised because he’s getting a plane the president could easily buy himself, personally?” he asked reporters.
Montana Republican Sen. Steve Daines said “you can’t beat free” when asked about the Qatari’s offer.
He added that he expects the Department of Justice to look at the legal questions raised “and they’ll come up with an opinion on it.”
“It’s gonna be for government use,” he added.
North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis also didn’t express concern, though he noted that the jet “has to be conveyed, categorically, to the US government,” rather than to Trump personally.
“I don’t think emoluments come in, but I’m not an attorney. I’ll leave it to others to do that,” he said, referring to the emoluments clause in the Constitution.
“I don’t know how that’d be any different than Qatar making a decision to write a check to the US government — if this is in fact, going to the US government,” he added.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Monday would not say if it is ethical or constitutional for the Trump administration to accept the jet as a gift from Qatar, saying he needs to learn more details about the potential offer, which he described as “hypothetical.”
“I don’t know enough about it yet, and I don’t know if there’s been any offer. I’m sure if and when we have more information, we’ll sort all that out. But at this point, it’s obviously, still a hypothetical,” he said.
