A former Republican congressman doesn't think president Donald Trump will be allowed to keep the "flying palace" given to him by Qatar's royal family.
The Trump administration is preparing to accept a super luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet from the foreign government to use as Air Force One and then be transferred to his presidential library, but the lavish, $400 million gift has raised ethical concerns and drawn strong bipartisan criticism.
"Well, there are a number of problems," former GOP congressman Charlie Dent told "CNN This Morning." "Let's start with the ethical, legal and constitutional ones. The Emoluments Clause is pretty clear that, you know, elected officials cannot receive gifts from foreign governments unless Congress approves them. Members of Congress are basically, they're held to a strict ban on any gifts, and so I think that this is clearly problematic on many levels."
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In addition to those concerns, a private contractor would have to rip apart the jet to turn it into a flying White House for the president with secure communications and classified upgrades, according to military officials and lawmakers, which could cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.
"I can't imagine that this deal is going to go through, and basically this lowers the ethical bar," Dent said, "Now I get why the Qataris are doing it. I mean, I get it. I mean, you know, during the first Trump administration, remember what happened? There was a blockade imposed by the Saudi Arabians and the [United Arab Emirates] against Qatar, and Trump backed the Saudis and the UAE – we were supposed to play Switzerland in that fight. You know, we got involved and the Qataris are trying to position themselves better. I don't blame them. But that said, you know, you simply cannot accept gifts like this on this scale."
"I mean, as a chairman of the Ethics Committee, I used to have to deal with members, you know, who would get tripped up," Dent added. "You know, you go overseas and some foreigner would give you, some foreign government would give you a trinket or whatever, and you were allowed to receive it, but then you had to turn it over, disclose it to the committee, and the committee would dispose of it in some way. That's that's how strict it was. But where are the guardrails here?"
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