‘The View’ Hosts Baffled by Trump Accepting Qatar Jet: We’re Told ‘Don’t Even Take a Pen’ From Heads of State | Video

The Trump administration is set to accept a luxury jet from Qatar in the coming weeks, to be used in place of the current Air Force One plane, and the move is drawing concern from even his own allies. On Monday, the hosts of “The View” were simply baffled by the move.

That’s largely because, during their own time working in government — host Sunny Hostin was a former federal prosecutor and host Alyssa Farah Griffin served in the first Trump administration — even small gifts were not allowed. Moderator Whoopi Goldberg has never worked for the government, and she noted she experienced the rule herself.

“I’ve known several presidents through their birthdays, and you know, you go and you bring them a present; they’re not allowed to take a dumb little present,” she recalled. “Like a dumb little present.”

TRUMP IN TALKS TO ACCEPT QATARI JET: As the White House defends the Qatari royal family’s gift of a $400 million “palace in the sky” airliner, ‘The View’ co-hosts weigh in on it not landing well with some of his supporters. pic.twitter.com/xmly4DogEq— The View (@TheView) May 12, 2025

Hostin went on to explain that the restriction of gifts is part of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution, which bars any U.S. officials from accepting gifts from foreign governments without congressional approval.

“In fact, the rules are, if you are working for the government, you can not accept anything of value of over $20,” Hostin explained. Additionally, any gifts received must be disclosed, no matter when they were received.

“So this is completely illegal. It’s just illegal,” she added.

Farah Griffin agreed that Trump accepting the jet is “clearly a violation of ethics rules,” and was further confused simply because “it’s also a huge security risk.”

“So you’re going to have the Qatari government know all the ins and outs, security protocols, technology of the plane that houses the U.S. president,” she cautioned. “And I would remind people, the Qataris are not our friends. They shelter Hamas terrorists, they protect their money, they allow them to carry out their terrorist activities. So that we would kind of be getting in bed with them in this way, in so many ways scares me.”

As the conversation drew to a close, Farah Griffin recalled that, during her time in government, she and her colleagues were even discouraged from accepting innocuous everyday objects, if offered.

“If we were meeting with other heads of state, we would actually be told don’t even take a pen from them, because it likely has surveillance capabilities,” she revealed. “So I just, I bet his national security team is like ‘This does not seem like a good idea.'”

You can watch the segment in the video above. “The View” airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET on ABC.

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