20-05-2025
'Not a bribery, normal thing…': Qatar PM justifies $400M luxury jet offer to Trump
atar dismissed concerns about its offer to give U.S. President Donald Trump a Boeing plane, saying it was not trying to buy influence, a day after a bill was introduced in the Senate to prevent a foreign aircraft operating as Air Force One. Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said on Tuesday that the offer was "a normal thing that happens between allies." He said he did not know why people considered the gift as bribery, or a way for Qatar to buy influence with the Trump administration. "But I'm hoping that people in the United States and even the politicians over there, they see us as a friend, as a partner, as a reliable partner that we've always been there for the U.S. whenever we were needed," he said at the Qatar Economic Forum held in Doha. U.S. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer introduced the "Presidential Airlift Security Act" after news Trump planned to accept a $400 million airplane from Qatar, which legal experts said raised a raft of questions about the scope of laws that relate to gifts from foreign governments and are intended to thwart corruption and improper influence. Trump shrugged off ethical concerns, saying it would be "stupid" to turn down the generous offer.
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