All posts tagged "Qatari Royal Family"

Donald Trump should accept a $400 million plane from Qatar but then sell it and use the money to train air traffic controllers at home, a senior congressional Democrat said.

“I think it's outlandish, it's against the Constitution, the emoluments clause,” Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) told Raw Story at the Capitol on Wednesday, referring to criticism of Trump's stated intent to accept the Qatari gift, from sources including the president's own supporters.

“But my feeling is, if it's worth $400 million or more, he ought to pawn it, get the money and use it to train controllers for this country, because look what's happening at Newark airport.”...

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced Tuesday that he was placing a hold on all of President Donald Trump's Department of Justice nominees until the administration came clean about potential conflicts of interest with the Qatari government.

Schumer's action was in response to the Qatari royal family saying a $400 million Boeing 747 "would be offered free of charge to the U.S. government for use as Air Force One until Boeing can deliver a new plane," said CNN anchor Kasie Hunt. "Then, in a twist, it would be given to Trump's presidential library so that he could continue to use it. But, didn't your mother tell you that there is no such thing as a free lunch? Mine sure did."

Schumer appeared on Hunt's show "The Arena" on Tuesday, where he called the situation "an issue of outright bribery," as well as a security concern. ...

Senior Trump aide Sebastian Gorka threw a fit when asked by a BBC reporter about the president accepting a massively expensive gift from the Qatari royal family, according to a report in HuffPost.

Gorka, who serves as President Donald Trump’s senior director for counterterrorism, appeared on Radio 4′s World At One program.

Host Sarah Montague asked, “The Qataris are giving a jet worth $400 million. The U.S. Constitution has provisions that no elected official should accept any present from the leader of a foreign state without congressional approval. Is there a problem with this, because it doesn’t look like it’s draining the swamp?” ...