Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy suggested President Donald Trump has a deeper motive in receiving a luxury jet from Qatar. He is trying to get Boeing to expedite an aircraft to replace Air Force One.
Trump has pushed back against criticism over his openness to accepting a Qatari jet, suggesting that it was “a very nice gesture” and that only “a stupid person” would say no to such an offer. The former House speaker pointed to how the current Air Force One jet used by the president is “very old,” and that the new Boeing planes that Congress ordered in Trump’s first administration are behind schedule in completion.
As such, McCarthy stated that Boeing needs to “get that plane done.”
“I think this is one more time President Trump trolls you where you’re sitting there thinking ‘oh my g – and he gets what he wants,” McCarthy assessed on Fox News’s Jesse Watters Primetime. “He’s going to get the Boeing to get the Air Force One done early, or he’ll take this one.”
Jesse Watters then stated that Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has said he would not fly on the Qatari jet, to which McCarthy joked that he was unsure Paul would even be invited by Trump, drawing laughter from both. Paul cited on Monday that the Constitution’s Article II states that the president cannot accept gifts from foreign leaders, adding that accepting it would be “a mistake.”
THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS A FREE JET
Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) told the Washington Examiner that Senate Democrats are “evaluating our sort of procedural options” on how to deny Qatar’s gift to the United States, and that he will likely request a vote from the Senate floor.
On Wednesday, the Trump administration announced that Qatar had signed an agreement to purchase 160 aircrafts from Boeing, marking the biggest order for widebody aircraft in the company’s history. The agreement was made during Trump’s trip to the Middle East, where the president is visiting Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.