U.S. President Donald Trump walks to board Marine One as he departs for Saudi Arabia from the South Lawn at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 12, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard
President Donald Trump's new luxury jet gift from the Qatari government is a blatant attempt to profit from the presidency, at the expense of properly representing the American people, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Monday evening.
Trump has insisted that he is just doing what any reasonable person would do, and even compared accepting the jet to moving to the next hole when your golf opponent lets you skip a putt. But nothing could be further from the truth, Van Hollen argued.
"Senator, the president says anyone who turns down a free 747 is a 'world class loser,'" said anchor Anderson Cooper. "What do you see when you read between the lines of this deal?"
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"Anderson, this is grift, pure and simple," replied Van Hollen.
"I mean, the reason we have the Emoluments Clause in the Constitution is to guard against countries essentially trying to buy favor with the President of the United States, and that's exactly what's happening here in this transaction," Van Hollen continued. "So you can be sure that there will be resolutions in Congress, that those Republican senators that you just mentioned will have a chance to demonstrate their disapproval. But this is all part and parcel of this larger scheme to sell the presidency for the president and his family's personal benefit."
Furthermore, he added, "As you mentioned, on this visit to the UAE, normally you would send your advance team of diplomats. In this case, it was the Trump family, business representatives, Eric Trump and others that did the advance, essentially to cut private deals to enrich the family and put the United States in a conflict position with respect to these other countries."
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