Raskin blasts Trump for Qatar plane 'grift'

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) called reports that President Trump was planning to accept a luxury jet from Qatar “a grift” and said the president must seek Congressional approval first.

“Trump must seek Congress’ consent to take this $300 million gift from Qatar,” Raskin wrote on X on Sunday.

He was responding to reporting from ABC News that Trump was preparing to accept, from the royal family of Qatar, a luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet, which would be available for Trump to use as Air Force One through the end of his term, at which point it would be transferred to the Trump presidential library, ABC News reported, citing sources familiar with the proposed arrangement.

“The Constitution is perfectly clear: no present ‘of any kind whatever’ from a foreign state without Congressional permission,” Raskin continued in his post.

“A gift you use for four years and then deposit in your library is still a gift (and a grift),” he added.

Raskin, the top Democrat on House Oversight Committee, has criticized Trump’s handling of foreign gift disclosure. He led a committee investigation that concluded in 2023 that the first Trump administration failed to publicly report more than 100 gifts from foreign countries worth a total of more than $250,000.

Trump, on Sunday, acknowledged his administration was planning to accept the aircraft “temporarily” as a free gift but stressed that the Defense Department would be participating in the “very public and transparent transaction.”

In a statement to NewsNation earlier Sunday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt did not confirm the specifics of the deal but said, “Any gift given by a foreign government is always accepted in full compliance with all applicable laws. President Trump’s Administration is committed to full transparency.”