Scoop: Dem seeks probe into reports Qatar plans to gift plane to Trump

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Axios

Updated 8 hours ago


A House Democrat is seeking an investigation into reports that the Trump administration plans to accept a jet worth roughly $400 million from Qatar to serve as Air Force One — and President Trump's personal plane after he leaves office.

The latest: Trump pushed back on concerns in a Sunday night Truth Social post.

"So the fact that the Defense Department is getting a GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE, of a 747 aircraft to replace the 40 year old Air Force One, temporarily, in a very public and transparent transaction, so bothers the Crooked Democrats that they insist we pay, TOP DOLLAR, for the plane," he wrote.

"Anybody can do that! The Dems are World Class Losers!!!"

Why it matters: The swift backlash signals that congressional Democrats may latch onto the issue when they return to session next week.

The Democratic National Committee blasted out a press release Sunday afternoon branding the development as Trump's "latest grift."

Driving the news: Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) wrote to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the acting Department of Defense inspector general and the Office of Government Ethics requesting a probe into the matter.

"With an estimated value of $400 million, the aerial palace would constitute the most valuable gift ever conferred on a President by a foreign government," he wrote in a letter first obtained by Axios.

Torres asked for an "immediate" ethics review of the reported gift and an advisory opinion on whether it violates federal ethics rules or the Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

He also asked for a recommendation on "policy reforms to prevent the conversion of foreign gifts into private property by current or former presidents."

Read more: https://www.axios.com/2025/05/11/trump-qatar-plane-democrat-torres-investigation

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Link to DNC PRESS RELEASE - Trump’s Latest Grift: $400 Million Luxury Jet from Qatar

Rep. Torres' LETTER (PDF viewer) - https://www.scribd.com/document/860351828/Ritchie-Torres-Demands-IG-Investigate-Trump-Gift-From-Qatar#from_embed

Link to tweet

Ritchie Torres
@RitchieTorres
·
Follow
Air Force One will have something in common with Hamas.

Paid for by Qatar.


11:12 AM · May 11, 2025

Blue Sky - https://bsky.app/profile/ritchietorres.bsky.social/post/3lovqmho3zc2g

‪

Ritchie Torres‬
‪@ritchietorres.bsky.social‬
· 18h
Air Force One will have something in common with Hamas.

Paid for by Qatar.

[gab13by13]

1. Why does a library need a jet?

New strategy I guess, 3 stern letters instead of 1. Dems are learning.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. The "letters" are FORMAL REQUESTS for Inspector Generals and GAO to investigate

But you read the OP?

Driving the news: Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) wrote to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the acting Department of Defense inspector general and the Office of Government Ethics requesting a probe into the matter.

When Congress wants an Executive Branch IG to do a "probe", they obviously have to put that request in writing, right? Or maybe it should be done at the nearest D.C. bar over a couple drinks during lunch.

[riversedge]

3. I wonder why only ONE Dem Rep sent the letters.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. You will normally see the "Ranking Members"

often with cosigning by other members on specific Committees, "sending the letters".

You won't see every single Democrat "sending a letter". The seniority of the Ranking Members (or Committee Chairs when we are in the majority and have those positions) is what provides authority as "speaking for" those other Committee Members. You may have some junior members picking up a subject that interests them to take a lead on too.

These are the Committees/Subcommittees that Torres is a member of - https://clerk.house.gov/members/T000486

Committee and Subcommittee Assignments

Committee on Financial Services

Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Artificial Intelligence
Housing and Insurance
National Security, Illicit Finance, and International Financial Institutions

Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party

I know DU tends to whine about "always seeing" Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren doing this but that is because THEY are the Ranking Members of their Senate Committees (as an example). Similarly Maxine Waters is a Ranking Member of that House Financial Services Committee.