WASHINGTON — Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Tuesday he is placing a hold on all Trump Justice Department nominees as he seeks answers on the administration’s plan to accept a luxury jet from Qatar to be used as Air Force One.
“In light of the deeply troubling news of a possible Qatari-funded Air Force One, and the reports that the Attorney General personally signed off on this clearly unethical deal, I am announcing a hold on all DOJ political nominees, until we get more answers,” Schumer said on the Senate floor.
The minority leader presented a list of questions and demands he says the Trump administration must respond to before he lifts his hold on nominees.
“President Trump has told the American people this is, ‘a free jet.’ Does that mean the Qataris are delivering a ready-on-day-one plane with all the security measures already built in? If so, who installed those security measures, and how do we know they were properly installed?” Schumer asked. “If this is, as President Trump promised, a free jet, will the Qataris pay for those highly sensitive installations, or will American taxpayers cover the cost?”
Schumer can’t block these nominees with this tactic, but he can slow down their consideration. It’s not really clear if the judicial nominees would have already been held for various other reasons, considering the vast majority of Trump nominees have been held in this way already.
The Office of Legal Counsel at the DOJ prepared a memo declaring that the acceptance of the plane was legal, a senior DOJ official told NBC News on Monday. The DOJ declined to release the memo, which Attorney General Pam Bondi approved.
Schumer, in his remarks Tuesday, called on Bondi to testify before Congress to explain the conclusion that there is no conflict and answer a number of questions related to the gift.
“The Attorney General must testify before both the House and Senate to explain why gifting Donald Trump a private jet does not violate the emoluments clause — which requires congressional approval — or any other ethics laws,” Schumer said. “Until the Attorney General explains her blatantly inept decision and we get complete and comprehensive answers to these and other questions, I will place a hold on all political nominees to the Department of Justice.”
Schumer also accused DOJ of not “doing its job” when it comes to the Foreign Agent Registration Act, saying that the unit that oversees adherence to the law needs to enforce it and disclose information to the public “not just on this luxury plane deal, but all deals involving foreign countries in the Middle East and President Trump, his family and the Trump Organization.”
Reached for comment Tuesday, White House spokesperson said, “Senator Schumer and his anti-law-and-order party are prioritizing politics over critical DOJ appointments, obstructing President Trump’s Make Safe Again agenda. Cryin’ Chuck must end the antics, stop Senate stonewalling, and prioritize the safety and civil rights of Americans.”
The Justice Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Before leaving for his trip to the Middle East on Monday, Trump defended his decision to accept the airplane gift, which he called “a very nice gesture.” He also said it would eventually be decommissioned and would be given to his presidential library.
“Now I could be a stupid person and say, ‘Oh no, we don’t want a free plane,’” he told reporters at the White House. “I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer.”
Boeing had already been working on a plan to deliver Air Force One replacements, but the process has been delayed and has been over-budget. The company’s CEO told CNBC in January that it was working with Elon Musk to deliver them sooner than expected.
Meanwhile, some legal experts have questioned how a gift from Qatar that would follow Trump out of office could be permissible under the Emoluments Clause. Democrats and even some Trump allies have suggested the jet could be perceived as a conflict of interest.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, a close ally of the president’s, told CNBC on Tuesday that “the plane poses significant espionage and surveillance problems.”
Some Democrats have also questioned Bondi’s involvement in the matter as she has previously lobbied for the government of Qatar.
“She was a paid agent of the Qatari government, a lobbyist before she became attorney general,” Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said Tuesday. “We have questions that we’ve asked about how she cleared her ethics statement on her relationship with Qatar, and I think that this plane deal is really with that front and center.”
Lawmakers and former intelligence officials note the massive spying risks posed by such a gift from a foreign government and the long history of gifts that turned out to be more than they appeared. In 1945, for example, Soviet children gifted the U.S. ambassador in Moscow a wooden carving of America’s Great Seal, and a listening device inside the object was discovered seven years later.
Accusations that Trump has unlawfully benefited from foreign entities are nothing new. They arose during his first term but the legal question was never resolved before he left office.
At issue in those cases were claims under the Constitution’s Emoluments Clauses, which are anticorruption provisions that prevent the president from receiving payments from the states or gifts or payments from foreign officials.
There is no Supreme Court precedent on the subject to guide lower courts on how the clauses can be enforced or even who can sue.
