President Trump’s acceptance of a $400 million luxury jet plane from the Qatari royal family for use as Air Force One has raised ethics concerns from watchdogs like CREW and rebukes from members of Congress across the political spectrum. Despite constitutional questions and obvious pitfalls with the plan, Attorney General Pam Bondi reportedly signed a memo endorsing the gift’s legality. CREW has requested records from the Department of Justice including the memo, communications regarding the drafting of the memo and any ethics guidance Attorney General Bondi received concerning her past work as a foreign agent of the government of Qatar.

Congress has established a statutory system governing acceptance of gifts like the Qatari jet, which does not appear to have been followed in this instance. The gift may also violate the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause which prohibits a president from accepting any gift from a foreign state without the consent of Congress. Whether the memo signed by Bondi addresses these issues, and other ethics, corruption and security concerns, is crucial for the public to know, given the enormity of this gift. 

Bondi should have recused herself from the Qatari jet matter, to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest given her recent work serving as a lobbyist on behalf of Qatar and failure to disclose this conflict on her Senate Judiciary Questionnaire prior to her confirmation as attorney general. The public deserves a fuller picture of the DOJ’s analysis of the Qatar jet gift, as well as whether Bondi received ethics guidance related to her participation in this matter and what that guidance may have been.

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