Two top administration officials took turns defending Donald Trump’s decision to accept a $400m jet as a “gift” from the Qatari royal family on Sunday.
Steve Witkoff and Scott Bessent appeared for separate interviews on ABC’s This Week and CNN’s State of the Union, where both offered similar defenses for an exchange that even Republican senators and House members have openly said carries the optics of bribery.
Witkoff, the Trump White House’s Middle East envoy, spoke to ABC as efforts continue by the administration to engage with Iran in the first direct talks between the US and Iran since the Obama administration. President Trump returned from a trip to the region on Friday after touting a new major deal for Boeing in Qatar; he also visited the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
His envoy insisted that the gift of a $400m Boeing 747-8 to be used as a replacement for Air Force One “just has to be seen” as a development that will benefit America without any downsides.
“It’s a perfectly legal, government to government, Department of Defense, to Department of Defense transaction that happens in the normal course and has been happening in the normal course throughout … our existence,” Witkoff claimed. “They decided to donate something because of all the wonderful things that we’ve done for them in the past.”
“I’m not sure how anyone would see this as the Qataris looking to gain some sort of advantage,” added Witkoff, who previously did business with the Qatari government’s sovereign wealth fund before joining the White House.
The Treasury secretary, meanwhile, likened the gift to the French government’s donation of the Statue of Liberty to the US.
“The French gave us the Statue of Liberty. The British gave us the Resolute Desk,” Scott Bessent said on CNN’s State of the Union. “I’m not sure they asked for anything in advance.”
Host Jake Tapper responded by pointing out that the statue was not for the personal use of a president, unlike the plane, which is set to be moved to Trump’s presidential library upon his departure from the White House.
“I think this plane would be a gift to the American government,” Bessent said in response.
The optics of the Qatari government’s gift of a palatial upgrade to the current, aging Air Force One is not lost on many, including in the GOP congressional caucuses. Others have tripped up attempting to avoid answering.
Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican senator, warned on Sunday that the president risked undermining his own message by accepting the gift.
“I think my fear is that it detracts from a largely successful trip where the president is talking about opening up and doing more trade with the Middle East, which is a good thing, particularly amidst all the protectionism and directing away from trade that we’ve had going on,” Paul said on ABC.
Mike Pence, Trump’s former running mate, also urged the president to reconsider during a separate interview on NBC’s Meet the Press.
Pro-Trump commentator Ben Shapiro, on his podcast this past week, told listeners: “I think the technical term is ‘skeezy.’”
On Friday, the president lashed out at a Fox News reporter for asking him about the growing unease over Qatar’s gift.
“I just want to say, it was a radical left story,” Trump told Fox’s Bret Baier. “I made a good deal.”
“This goes to the United States Air Force for whoever is president, and at some point, it’ll be like Ronald Reagan. It’ll be decommissioned, because they won’t want it,” he added.
