 |
| A private jet from Qatar (BBC) |
Donald Trump is defending his plan to accept the gift of a $400-million jet from the royal family of Qatar. In the process, Trump reveals that he is clueless about a key provision of the U.S. Constitution, which he is sworn to preserve and protect. We also learn that Trump's attorney general apparently is as ignorant as her boss about our nation's governing document. That should be an embarrassment to all Americans, especially those who went to the polls last November and decided it would be a wise move to support a convicted felon, adjudicated rapist, and proven failure during his first term to run our country again. On top of all that, we now know Trump is terrible at nominating people to fill key roles in his administration -- and that includes Pam Bondi, his choice as AG, "the people's lawyer."
The "JetGate" scandal involving Qatar has taught us that Trump and Bondi seem to form blank looks when confronted with a constitutional provision known as the Emoluments Clause. This is how Article I, Section 9, Clause 8 of the Constitution reads:
No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.
Do those words indicate the JetGate gift would violate the U.S. Constitution? It sure does. And how did Pam Bondi conclude such a transaction would be legal? That is not clear, but she has been connected to ethically questionable activities before. In fact, we have reported on Bondi's ties to Jessica Medeiros Garrison, an Alabama lawyer/political figure with a sketchy history. Bondi and Garrison were central figures in a series of articles The New York Times published in 2014 about corporate entities lobbying "The People's lawyers" in various states via state attorneys general associations that tended to operate in political shadows.)
In 2021, The New York Times exposed Garrison's dubious right-wing connections a second time, on this occasion under the headline "The Secretive Company That Might End Privacy as We Know It." The '21 article focused on a controversial facial-recognition company called Clearview AI (which has deep ties to the political right, including Donald Trump). Clearview has faced a series of legal battles, including one with the Dutch data protection watchdog, which issued a fine of 30.5 million euros ($33.7 million) over its creation of what the agency called an “illegal database” of billions of facial photos. (Note: Garrison has remarried, so her name now is Jessica Medeiros Garrison Morrow.)
Speaking of Trump, what about his JetGate plans with Qatar? They appear to be illegal on their face, and U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) intends to drive that point home to the American people, according to a report from The Hill:
Raskin, in an appearance on CNN, was asked if he thought strings were attached to the gift.
“Well, undoubtedly there are,” he replied. “But it doesn’t make any difference because the Constitution forbids the president from accepting any present, emolument, office or title of any kind whatever.”
“The Constitution says, from a king, prince, or foreign state, without the consent of Congress,” the Maryland Democrat added. “So, he’s got to come to Congress first.”
He pointed to the Statue of Liberty as an example. In 1877, former President Grant — on his last day in office — signed a joint-Congressional resolution to accept the gift from France.
In 1886, former President Cleveland (D) officially received the statue that would become part of New York City’s iconic landscape.
“You got to go to Congress in order to accept a gift from a foreign government, which is what this is, and obviously there’s all kinds of national security implications because it is a government giving us this plane,” Raskin told host Erin Burnett on CNN’s “OutFront.”
In a jointly published article at BBC News and Yahoo! News -- under the headline "Trump defends plan to use Qatari luxury jet for Air Force One" -- made it clear he intends to accept the gift, with no apparent hint of going through Congress:
"They're giving us a gift," Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday, adding that he would be "a stupid person" if he did not accept it.
In an earlier statement, a Qatari spokesman said it would be "inaccurate" to refer to the plane as a gift. He said the transfer of an aircraft for "temporary use" was under discussion between the two countries.
The news comes as Trump is visiting the Middle East and Qatar this week, part of the first major foreign trip of his second term.
Speaking on Monday, Trump said that the US had helped the other country "a lot over the years in terms of security and safety" and that he had "a lot of respect for the leadership" of the country.
He went on to say it would be a "very nice gesture" if Qatar provided the US with a Boeing jet while his government continued to wait for two new ones to be provided directly by Boeing itself.
The potential value of the plane and its handling has raised legal and ethical questions among critics on the political left and right.
The US Constitution has a provision known as the Emoluments Clause, which restricts what gifts US presidents can accept from foreign governments. It was designed to prevent leaders from becoming beholden to foreign governments.
On social media, Democratic Senator Adam Schiff from California quoted a section of the US Constitution that said no elected official could accept "any present... of any kind whatever" from the leader of a foreign state without congressional approval.
Congressman Ritchie Torres, a New York Democrat, called on the Government Accountability Office to investigate, saying the plane could "constitute the most valuable gift ever conferred on a president by a foreign government".
But there was criticism, too, from some of Trump's staunchest supporters.
Leavitt apparently does not consider the U.S. Constitution to be part of "all applicable laws," possibly because that's the way her boss sees it -- and her job is to ensure that chunks of the American electorate believe anything Trump says:
The White House's current fleet includes two Boeing 747-200B planes customised for presidential use with special communications equipment and features like a state room, office and conference room. The planes have been in use since 1990 and 1991.
Qatar is said to be offering a version of a Boeing 747-8, a much newer model that ABC News reports has been upgraded into a "flying palace".
The plane, reported to be worth about $400m (£303m), would not be ready for use right away if provided to the US, as it would need to be retrofitted and cleared by security officials, sources told CBS, the BBC's US partner.
Boeing already has been contracted to directly provide the White House with two 747-8s, but Trump complained earlier this year that the firm was behind schedule.
His team negotiated to receive these during his first term in office, though Boeing has cautioned that they will not be available for two or three more years.
Qatar - a country with which Trump has long had a positive relationship - has also previously given private jets as gifts to other countries, including Turkey.
This would not be the first Trump-related deal with Qatar. Last month, his company signed a deal to build a luxury golf resort there, marking its first foreign deal since the Republican returned to office in January.
According to CBS, the plane that Trump could acquire would be donated at the end of his term to his presidential library, which is a collection of artifacts related to a US leader's time in office.
1 comment:
Trump is definitely "Grifter In Chief"!
Post a Comment