Either State Secretary Marco Rubio is playing dumb about Donald Trump’s new private jet from Qatar, or he’s actually dumb.
While testifying before Congress Tuesday, Rubio claimed that he had no knowledge of reports that ownership of the plane would eventually swap to Trump’s presidential library.
“It’s not your understanding that the plane ultimately will belong to Trump or to the president’s library?” pressed Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy.
“I’m not involved at that level, I’ve never heard that before,” the state secretary—whose job it is to manage and carry out U.S. foreign policy—said. “What I’ve heard is that plane will replace Air Force One which is an Air Force plane.”
Murphy then made mention of Trump’s plans to meet this week with a couple hundred of the top investors in his cryptocurrency. Earlier this month, 19 of the top 25 holders registered on the memecoin site used foreign exchanges that exclude U.S.-based customers, reported Bloomberg, meaning that foreigners are effectively buying face-to-face time with the president.
“I don’t know anything about it, or didn’t even know there was a dinner Thursday night,” Rubio said.
“So you don’t know if any of the foreign individuals meeting with the president Thursday night, for instance, are on our list of sanctioned individuals or have connections to, let’s say, terrorist organizations abroad?” Murphy asked.
Rubio then deferred oversight of that responsibility to the Department of Homeland Security, repeating that he wasn’t aware of the dinner.
“You’re asking about a dinner that I don’t know anything about. I can’t answer you because I don’t know anything about this dinner. It’s the first I’ve heard of it,” Rubio said, claiming he doesn’t know the president’s “social schedule.”
Murphy then underscored the danger of major foreign interests potentially circumnavigating the State Department for unfettered access to Trump.
“It’s kind of naive to believe that they aren’t going to be in that room talking about national security matters,” Murphy said. “I think that right there is a real problem for this committee, because there’s clearly a way around the State Department for foreign individuals of significant influence and wealth to be able to directly lobby the president of the United States. You are saying you don’t know this is happening, that in and of itself is a problem.”
Qatari leadership gifted Trump a super luxury jumbo jet earlier this month in an act that was widely interpreted as a foreign bribe, including by longtime supporters of the president’s agenda such as far-right influencers Ben Shapiro and Laura Loomer. It was one of the most lavish gifts ever bestowed to a U.S. president.
Claiming that the plane is going towards the Defense Department is a convenient workaround that would allow Trump to ethically accept the pricy present, since it is obviously illegal for a president (or any U.S. public office holder) to accept gifts “of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State,” per the Constitution’s Foreign Emoluments Clause.
Trump has claimed the jet is a “gift” to the Defense Department and thus the country—except that the plane is not actually being donated to the American people. Instead, Trump is opting to use the luxurious aircraft as his new Air Force One until “shortly before he leaves office,” at which point he will transfer ownership of the plane to his presidential library foundation, sources with knowledge of the arrangement told ABC News.
Richard Briffault, a Columbia Law School professor, told NPR News Trump’s decision to accept the jumbo jet is a “pretty textbook case” of violating the Emoluments Clause, clarifying that if Trump hands the jet over to his library after leaving office, then it’s “not really a gift to the United States at all.”