President Donald Trump's acceptance of a free jumbo jet from the Qatari government is an ethics violation on a scale hardly ever seen in modern American history, an ethics expert said Monday afternoon.
And it throws everything that happens in Trump's upcoming Middle East peace talks into question.
"How unprecedented is it to get a gift of this magnitude?" asked CNN's Brianna Keilar on Monday.
"I think it's absolutely unprecedented," said Noah Bookbinder, Washington chief of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, or CREW. "I am not aware of anything even in — even in the same order of magnitude as this. There's a reason why, in this country, when the country needs expensive, important items, we pay for it: because it makes sure that, first of all, we get the things that are in our interest that accomplish what's needed in this case, a plane that is secure. And, you know, can do all the functions the president needs it for. But also, that don't create these kinds of ethical problems, which could really, really harm the country."
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" Trump said that he would be a ... quote, 'stupid person' to not accept the gift," said Keilar. "We should note that there are a lot of smart people saying, 'No, that's exactly what he should do, he should not accept this.' Talk a little bit about — you touched on this, but talk a little bit more about the strings that could be attached to something like this."
"Well, I mean, the president is engaged right now — the administration is engaged in peace negotiations in the Middle East," said Bookbinder. "Qatar has played a role in those in the past. The president has engaged in economic negotiations with a whole lot of countries about trade conditions and tariffs. When he does all those things, you want to make sure that he is thinking only about what is in the national security interest of the United States, the economic interests of the American people, what is best for us. But if he's in a situation where Qatar wants something and maybe they say, 'hey, we gave you that plane,' but maybe they don't say it because they don't have to. He knows it. It's in his mind that he has been traveling in luxury thanks to this government. And so, of course, he's going to be at least tempted to favor them in ways he might not otherwise."
That situation, he added, "could be really, really dangerous, especially in a region of the world like the Middle East, which is on a hair trigger, where every decision needs to be made as carefully as possible and for the right reasons."
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