House Democrats have indicated that they will open an investigation into President Donald Trump's acceptance of a $400 million jet from Qatar on the grounds that it might not be legal for him to do so, even on behalf of the Defense Department.
Ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) led his panel in a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi and White House counsel David Warrington on Thursday, asking for a reported legal memo she wrote arguing that the gift was legal.
"Any legal memo purporting to make such a claim would obviously fly in the face of the text of the Constitution’s Foreign Emoluments Clause, which explicitly prohibits the President from accepting any ‘present [or] Emolument... of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State’ unless he has ‘the Consent of Congress,'" the letter read.
But Trump wasn't accepting the gift for himself, exactly. Technically, he was accepting it for the country as a whole.
Kind of like the Statue of Liberty, which certainly wasn't unconstitutional.
Detractors did point out that Qatar was a sponsor of terror in the Middle East and supports Palestine and Hamas.
Also, Trump apparently plans to have the plane donated to his presidential library after he's out of office, so in that way it is rather more personal than some gifts might be.
But Democrats went all in on their accusations, saying that it's entirely possible that the "gift" was actually a bribe.
"President Trump’s statements expressing displeasure with delays in the delivery of his new Boeing aircraft to serve as Air Force One and the timing of this ‘gift’ suggest that President Trump or a member of his Administration may have improperly solicited this 'nice gesture' from the Qatari government," the Democrats said.
"The fact that, according to President Trump, the plane would not remain in service to the United States but would rather be donated to his presidential library after his term concludes further raises the possibility that this ‘nice gesture’ is intended as a bribe to Donald Trump."
I'm sure they'll end up impeaching him over it, because of course they will.
Never mind that their guy, former President Joe Biden, reportedly extorted every foreign nation he could for the better part of 15 years for money that went directly into his pocket or the pockets of his kids and other family members.
Like the great Rush Limbaugh always said, if you want to know what the other side is doing, just look at what they are accusing Republicans of.
In this case, they've managed to muddy the waters enough to make it look bad, even if it isn't.
