Dem
47
GOP
53
Yesterday, the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced that, after careful consideration, he has decided to accept the Qataris' offer to donate a "palace in the sky," ostensibly to serve as Air Force One. The U.S. Air Force will use existing fleet maintenance funds to pay for upgrades, and is expected to give the job to military contractor L3 Harris Technologies.
As a reminder, the Foreign Emoluments Clause of the Constitution says: "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." The Trump administration is very clearly trying to circumvent that by having Hegseth accept the gift in the name of the Department of Defense. Obviously, that technically means that Trump is not personally accepting the obvious bribe. However, Hegseth is also a person holding an office of profit or trust under the United States, and his claim that he is speaking for his entire department, and not as an individual, is pretty flimsy, legally speaking.
And then, of course, there's the other end of the process, wherein the plane goes with Trump when he leaves office. In an attempt to address that, the White House insisted that the President has no intention of using the plane once he's done being president, and that he just wants to park it at his presidential library as a historical exhibit. Is there anyone who actually believes that? He knows full well that, on January 21, 2029, there will be no penalties, criminal or otherwise, if he just so happens to announce "Hey! I changed my mind!"
We're not terribly surprised that Trump took the deal, for three reasons. First, he badly, badly, badly wants a nicer airplane than the 757 he currently owns (which is actually pretty run-down, as far as these things go). Second, he is absolutely obsessed with "deals"—getting things for less than the actual cost (such as "free"). He's probably internalized the notion that it's a $400 million plane, but that's actually the "new" price tag. In its current state, it's actually worth more like $100 million (still nothing to sneeze at, of course).
Third, and this is surely what sealed the deal, Trump knows that he's not going to pay any of the political costs of making such a corrupt bargain. After all, his name will never again be on a ballot. He doesn't particularly care about anyone else's political career. And while he might nominally prefer to have a Republican majority in the House, he's got one right now, and he probably won't have one after January 3, 2027, plane or not.
That means the ball is in the court of Congressional Republicans. They are clearly willing to look the other way when it comes to gross ethical lapses and other bad behavior, but they are still concerned with their own self-interest and with the fact that most of them, unlike Trump, have to worry about getting reelected.
And make no mistake, this is manna from heaven for the Democrats. As we have pointed out, the corruption that turned Trump into a convicted felon is ultimately pretty abstruse, and difficult for many voters to understand and/or get angry about. On the other hand, a Middle Eastern nation looking to curry favor with the government, and giving away a "palace in the sky" to make that happen? You couldn't design a cleaner example of corrupt behavior if you tried. And there is no "status" for the plane that makes things better. If Trump actually starts using it in the next 18 months, then every picture of him and the plane becomes an opportunity to talk about corruption. And if he doesn't start using it, then it's "Think of all the tax money being spent to refurbish the plane Trump isn't using, because he acquired it for his retirement."
So, we think it's at least possible Congress might have something to say about this, despite Trump trying to do an end-run around the Constitution. We'll soon learn if, in particular, the Republican members of the Senate feel that "the 'donation' is being accepted by the Pentagon, not by any person" gives them enough cover or not. (Z)