House Dems swoop in on Trump-Qatar jet controversy

WASHINGTON (CN) — A group of House Judiciary Committee Democrats on Thursday joined their Senate colleagues in probing the Donald Trump administration’s legal rationale for potentially accepting a multibillion-dollar jumbo jet from the government of Qatar.

The move to reaffirm Congress’ role in approving gifts from foreign countries comes as the White House maintains that allowing the transfer of a luxury Boeing 747 from the Middle East state to the U.S. Air Force would not violate the Constitution or federal law.

News broke over the weekend that Trump had toured the proposed gift plane, characterized as an opulent “flying palace,” and that the administration was considering accepting it for use as Air Force One until near the end of the president’s term. Afterward, the plane would reportedly be given to Trump’s presidential library fund, possibly for personal use.

The White House has acknowledged those reports, as well as a memo sent to White House counsel and signed by Attorney General Pam Bondi which concluded that such a donation was “legally permissible.”

The potential transfer has been criticized by both Democrats and Republicans, with some suggesting that it violates the Constitution’s emoluments clause which bars the president from accepting certain gifts from foreign countries. Federal law also establishes additional guardrails for foreign gifts.

In a Thursday letter to Bondi and White House counsel David Warrington, Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee cast doubt on the nature of Qatar’s gift.

“The fact that, according to President Trump, the plane would not remain in service to the United States but would rather be donated to his presidential library after his term concludes further raises the possibility that this ‘nice gesture’ is intended as a bribe to Donald Trump,” wrote the lawmakers led by Maryland Representative Jamie Raskin.

The Democrats pointed to “myriad” concerns raised by representatives from both parties about the legality of such a gift as well as the potential taxpayer burden of overhauling the jet to be used as Air Force One. They also noted that some lawmakers, such as Texas Senator Ted Cruz, had raised national security concerns about using a jet from a foreign country as the president’s primary form of air transportation.

And the House Democrats slammed Trump for what they framed as an effort to go ahead and accept Qatar’s gift without first getting consent from Congress, as outlined under law.

“Despite these rising bipartisan concerns, the Constitution’s crystal-clear command, and ample opportunity to obtain approval from the GOP-controlled Congress … this Administration has made no formal effort to present this ‘gift’ to Congress for its consideration before he accepts it,” they told Bondi and Warrington.

The lawmakers accused the Justice Department and White House counsel’s office of helping Trump “paper over” a violation of the Constitution by obscuring it in a “fog of verbiage.” They pointed to reports that attorneys from the Justice Department and White House provided the Pentagon with a legal analysis saying it was permissible for the Air Force to accept the 747 from Qatar.

“The Constitution is clear: Congress — not the Attorney General or the White House Counsel — has the executive authority to approve or reject a gift ‘of any kind whatever’ given to the President by a foreign government,” the Democrats said.

The lawmakers demanded that Bondi and Warrington turn over the legal memo greenlighting the jet’s transfer from Qatar to the Trump administration, as well as any written agreement between the U.S. and Qatar regarding the gift.

House Democrats have expanded their response to the Qatar jet controversy in recent days. Raskin and the Judiciary Committee Democrats on Wednesday unveiled a resolution demanding that Trump get the consent of Congress before formally accepting the proposed gift.

And Senate Democrats are taking similar steps. Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin took aim at Bondi in a letter Wednesday, raising ethical concerns about her involvement in any donation from Qatar. The attorney general was previously a lobbyist for the state registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. House Democrats have also demanded that the Justice Department turn over any documents related to internal discussions about whether Bondi should recuse herself from deliberations.

A source with knowledge of the matter, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Courthouse News on Wednesday that the attorney general had consulted with career ethics officials at the agency and that they had determined no conflict of interest.

The Justice Department in January sidelined one of its top ethics officials and reassigned his responsibilities to a pair of political appointees, including a former defense attorney for Trump.

Before she was confirmed to her current role, Bondi defended her lobbying work for Qatar, telling senators during a January nomination hearing that she was “proud” of her time as a foreign lobbyist for the country and that she would have liked to work for them longer.

Bondi told lawmakers that her work for Qatar primarily focused on combating human trafficking in advance of the 2022 FIFA World Cup held in the country.

As of Thursday, the White House had yet to formally announce whether it would accept the “flying palace” 747 from Qatar. Trump was in the country this week, where he signed a bilateral cooperation agreement and announced that the U.S. would sell 160 Boeing aircraft to the Middle East state.

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