Leader Schumer Statement On The Trump Administration Accepting Luxury Jet From Qatar

Washington, D.C. – Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) released the following statement after the Trump administration accepted a luxury jet from Qatar:

“Today marks a dark day in history: the President of the United States of America officially accepted the largest bribe from a foreign government in American history to the tune of a luxury $500 million 747 from Qatar. This unprecedented action is a stain on the office of the presidency and cannot go unanswered. Until Americans get transparency on this shady deal, which apparently includes a corrupt plot for Donald Trump to keep the plane at his library after leaving office, I’ll continue to hold all Department of Justice political nominees.”

Background:

This week, Leader Schumer introduced the Presidential Airlift Security Act, which would prohibit any foreign aircraft – including this Qatari jet – from being used as Air Force One. Specifically, the bill states that not one dollar of taxpayer funding can be authorized, appropriated or otherwise made available for the Department of Defense to use for the procurement, modification, restoration, or maintenance of a foreign aircraft for the purposes of providing presidential airlift options.

Last week, Leader Schumer announced a hold on all Department of Justice political nominees, demanding full transparency of Qatari influence over the Trump administration. Leader Schumer will lift his hold only if there is appropriate disclosure of Qatari influence, plans for the plane to be transferred to the Trump presidential library after the President leaves office, extensive security modification & correlated costs to retrofit and monitor an almost half a billion dollar plane.

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