'Whoa!' GOP strategist spirals after her 'influence peddling' analogy falls flat

A clash broke out on CNN after a Republican strategist compared a luxurious gift offered by Qatar's royal family to president Donald Trump to foreign aid provided by the U.S. to other countries.

U.S. attorney general Pam Bondi signed off on the $400 million luxury jet from Qatar, for whom she had previously worked as a lobbyist, but Atlantic staff writer Jerusalem Demsas told "CNN This Morning" on Thursday that the gift looks improper from a number of angles.

"But it's not just about legality, right?" Demsas said. "I mean, there's something here about wanting your leaders to know that they're working for you and not for their own personal interests. We don't know that's what's happening, but the reason we have rules around public officials not accepting gifts, like, if you can't accept cups of coffee from contractors as, you know, a service member of the United States military, not because we think you're going to sell out your country for a cup of joe, but because we understand that there need to be rules of propriety of how you engage with private sector individuals that get special access to you, and so for the president to be upending that view..."

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"I mean, during his first term, we saw many instances of that with people getting rooms at Trump Tower in D.C. and that perception of influence peddling is one thing," Demsas added. "But when it gets to the level of a $400 million plane that is now intended to then be transferred to his foundation, and then at that point he gets to use it for his personal use after his presidency, that's not about safety. I mean, that was after the backlash."

Republican strategist Erin Maguire, of Axiom Strategies, attempted to muddy the waters by comparing the royal family's offer to the money provided by the U.S. government to foreign nations.

"I want to make this point, though," Maguire said. "We're talking about whether or not you believe this is influence peddling. Then I would ask anybody, how do you feel about the United States and the position of influence peddling when it comes to sending aid overseas, right? That is considered a form of influence peddling."

Demsas pushed back immediately, saying that the U.S. provided assistance to, among other demographics, children living with AIDS, and Maguire was offended.

"Oh, okay – whoa," Maguire said. "I'm not talking about health care here. Don't go to the extreme on this. I'm talking about just the amount of monetary support the United States gives to other nations. That is influence peddling, as well. So if we're going to talk about this, talk about it in totality – talk about it both ways."

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