Brit Hume warned on Fox News Monday that Qatar’s donation of a luxury aircraft to the U.S. government for President Donald Trump’s use might carry more political baggage than the administration realizes.
The president is set to receive a Boeing 747-8 jet from Qatar’s royal family as a gift to the U.S. government, which he will use as Air Force One before it is eventually transferred to his presidential library at the end of his second term. During an appearance on “Special Report with Bret Baier,” Hume weighed in and said that Trump should look into the political implications of the said gift.
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“I think this is a little bit problematic. This gift of the airplane, I think it’s probably legal in the sense it’s not being given to the president personally. It’s been given to the United States of America for the president’s use, and when he moves on it will go then to his library, and that’s under the control of the National Archivist,” Hume told Baier.
The real concern, Hume said, isn’t the gift itself but where it’s coming from.
“I don’t think it’s actually a gift to him whether it is, however, given Qatar, Qatar’s in a controversial country, Bret. It’s been very useful as a mediating outfit for the United States government for some time now. It’s been a kind of a friend,” Hume said. “But it’s also where the Hamas terrorists find home, and terrorists all around the Middle East have received funds from Qatar.”
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That contradiction, Hume said, could sour public perception.
“It plays all sides, and it’s not really a true American ally. And I think it may be seen by a lot of the public as simply unseemly that we would accept such a gift from them,” Hume added.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told NBC News that the administration accepts all foreign gifts in accordance with applicable laws governing such deals. While the administration initially planned to announce the gift during Trump’s upcoming trip to Qatar, a White House official said the jet will not be formally presented during the visit.
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First published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
