The FBI tour traces the history of the fight against organized crime and includes displays showing artifacts from that fight. But too few people see the displays, given the security procedures necessary to access the headquarters.
Qatar, the tiny Persian Gulf emirate that uses its oil and gas proceeds to fund Islamist causes, left-wing non-governmental organizations, and both U.S. schools and universities, recently gifted President Donald Trump a Boeing 747-8 worth approximately $400 million. It was an “unconditional” gift to the United States. Delivered last month, Trump took the aircraft, which he retrofitted to serve as a new Air Force One, on its inaugural flight in that role when he flew it to North Dakota on July 2. Trump has hinted that he would like to keep the plane when he leaves office, though this is unlikely given the Foreign Emoluments Clause (Article I, Section 9, Clause 8) of the Constitution, which prohibits U.S. government employees holding an “Office of Profit or Trust” from accepting any present, profit or payment from a foreign state without Congressional consent. Meanwhile, the U.S. Air Force has ordered two Boeing 747-8s to serve as the next presidential aircrafts beginning as soon as 2028. The question then becomes, what to do with Qatar’s “gift?”
Qatar’s arrogance is supreme. It believes, with reason, that it can bribe almost anyone and anything. While it funds student groups, academics, and media to incite against Jews and Israel and their supposed nefarious influence in the world, it has itself engaged in a campaign of state capture that surpasses even that which China attempted in the last decade of the 20th century and the first decade of the 21st century.
MAMDANI-BACKED CANDIDATE RAILS AGAINST BILLIONAIRES DESPITE HER CAREER BENEFITING FROM ONE
Perhaps, then, the best use of Qatar’s gift after the end of Trump’s presidency would be to transform it into a museum of the fight against corruption. It might be parked nearby the Air and Space Museum branch near Dulles Airport, with its interior holding exhibits transferred from the FBI headquarters, but also commemorating key prosecutions under the Foreign Agents Registration Act and successful efforts to counter foreign states’ efforts to corrupt universities or, like the Alavi Foundation, Communist Chinese “police stations,” various Turkey-sponsored foundations and organization, and Eritrean civic institutions to subvert American freedoms in an effort to serve authoritarian masters. Imagine a museum that is part Air Force One exhibit, part Spy Museum, and part FBI exhibit.
For Qatar, the transformation of an effort to bribe and influence into a permanent exhibition detailing its own corruption would be the ultimate irony, but a fitting response to those who believe they can buy influence and pay no consequence.
Michael Rubin is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential, director of policy analysis at the Middle East Forum, and a distinguished fellow at the Usanas Foundation.