Schumer puts hold on Trump's DOJ nominees over Qatari jet gift

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday put a hold on President Trump's Justice Department nominees over a jet gifted to him by the Qatari government to use as Air Force One.

Trump has yet to accept the gift, which is valued at $400 million, The Hill news outlet reported. He will keep the jet as part of his presidential library after his term, according to the purported terms of the offer. 

“This is not just naked corruption – it is also a grave national security threat,” Schumer, a New York Democrat, said on the Senate floor. “Until the American people learn the truth about this deal, I will do my part to block the galling and truly breathtaking politicization at the Department of Justice.”

Schumer called on the DOJ's Foreign Agents Registration Act unit to “disclose all activities by Qatari foreign agents inside the U.S. that could benefit” from Trump or his business interests.

Schumer listed multiple concerns over the jet, including numerous safety considerations he and some Republicans have raised, the state of readiness of the jet, who in the DOJ signed off on the deal, and what it means for the contract between the U.S. government and Boeing.

“How is this gift not naked corruption?” he ask. Attorney General Pam Bondi "must testify before both the House and Senate to explain why gifting Donald Trump a private jet does not violate the Emoluments Clause — which requires congressional approval — or any other ethics laws.”

Bondi was a registered lobbyist for the Qatari government before working at the DOJ.

There are currently three DOJ nominees awaiting confirmation votes, according to The New York Times. However, the hold could affect many more.

Trump defended the gift on Sunday.

"So the fact that the Defense Department is getting a GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE, of a 747 aircraft to replace the 40 year old Air Force One, temporarily, in a very public and transparent transaction, so bothers the Crooked Democrats that they insist we pay, TOP DOLLAR, for the plane. Anybody can do that! The Dems are World Class Losers!!! MAGA" Trump posted on Truth Social.

Some Republican senators, including Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, have raised concerns over the jet.

“I’m not a fan of Qatar,” Cruz told CNBC on Tuesday. “They have a really disturbing pattern of funding theocratic lunatics who want to murder us, funding Hamas and Hezbollah — and that’s a real problem. I also think the plane poses significant espionage and surveillance problems.”