WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Wednesday it was none of his business if the president of the United States wanted to accept a $400 million plane as a gift from the government of Qatar.
The Constitution says no officer of the U.S. government can accept gifts from foreign governments without congressional approval. Johnson said it wasn’t that kind of gift, but also that he didn’t know much about it.
“I’m not following all the twists and turns of the Qatar jet. I’ve certainly heard about it. My understanding is it’s not a personal gift to the president. It’s a gift to the United States, and other nations give us gifts all the time,” Johnson said. “But I’m going to leave it to the administration. They know much more about the details of that, OK? I’m just — it’s not my lane.”
Johnson worked as a constitutional lawyer before becoming a member of Congress.
The White House has said the gift was offered to the Department of Defense, but sources familiar with the arrangement told ABC News that the jet would be transferred to the Trump presidential library foundation shortly before he leaves office. Trump said Monday it would go to his library, but more as an exhibit than a vehicle. “I wouldn’t be using it,” he told reporters.
Democrats have said the jet is an obvious violation of the Constitution’s ban on foreign gifts. In a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi on Wednesday, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) demanded Bondi hand over any internal guidance she’s written on the permissibility of the gift.
“As reported, this gift clearly violates the Constitution and the statutory regime enacted by Congress to govern such gifts,” Durbin wrote.
Durbin also questioned the propriety of the gift in light of Bondi’s past lobbying on behalf of the Qatari government and the announcement last month that the Trump family business had reached a deal to build a luxury golf resort in Qatar. Unlike recent past presidents, Trump has not divested from his family’s business.
Some Republicans have questioned the plane present, both for its ethical implications as well as the practical ones, since the plane would likely need extensive retrofitting to accommodate the president’s security needs. Mostly, however, the Republican Party has shrugged, just like Johnson did.
In a Truth Social post late Tuesday, Trump insisted the jet would be a gift to the Department of Defense, not to himself personally.
“It is a gift from a Nation, Qatar, that we have successfully defended for many years. It will be used by our Government as a temporary Air Force One, until such time as our new Boeings, which are very late on delivery, arrive,” Trump wrote. “Why should our military, and therefore our taxpayers, be forced to pay hundreds of millions of Dollars when they can get it for FREE from a country that wants to reward us for a job well done.”
A reporter asked Johnson why he supported an impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden over his family’s foreign business deals if he’s OK with what the Trump family is doing.
“They were doing all this stuff behind curtains, but in the back rooms, they were trying to conceal it, and they repeatedly lied about it, and they set up shell companies,” Johnson said, referring to the Bidens. “Whatever President Trump is doing is out in the open.”