The Prime Minister of Qatar has defended the country’s $400 million gift to President Donald Trump, saying that such exchanges between friendly countries are “normal”.
Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani commented on the accusations that Qatar was gifting the jet to Trump just to get on the President’s good side, saying that the gift is simply a donation to another world leader.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said in a Sunday interview that the pending transfer of a Qatari luxury jet “detracts from” what he saw as President Trump‘s “largely successful” Middle East trip and “gives the appearance of a conflict of interest.”
Why it matters: Paul, who has already cautioned against the possible gift to Trump, is one of a group of Republicans who have raised legal, ethical and national security concerns over the prospect of the administration accepting a jet worth roughly $400 million to potentially serve as Air Force One.
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Paul said on ABC’s “This Week” that there is “probably a perfectly legal way” the plane could be accepted, but added that he thinks the discussion has “raised more questions than I think it’s worth.”
- Paul, who said he has in the past pushed to block arms sales to Qatar and Saudi Arabia over alleged human rights abuses, contended, “Could it color the perception of the administration if they have a $400 million plane to be more in favor of these things? Perhaps.”
- Paul continued, “It at least gives the appearance of a conflict of interest. I don’t think it’s worth the headache.”
https://www.axios.com/2025/05/18/trump-qatari-jet-conflict-of-interest-rand-paul
Ahead of US President Donald Trump’s Gulf visit next week, his son Eric was promoting his crypto firm in Dubai, while Don Jr. prepared to talk about “Monetizing MAGA” in Doha.
Last month, the Trump Organization struck its first luxury real estate deal in Qatar and released details of a billion-dollar skyscraper in Dubai whose apartments can be bought in cryptocurrency.
In a monarchical region awash with petrodollars, the list of Trump-related ventures is long and growing. However, the pres-idential entourage is not the only party cashing in, analysts say.
“Gulf governments likely see the presence of the Trump brand in their countries as a way to generate goodwill with the new administration,” said Robert Mogielnicki of the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.
If the president chose, he could hopscotch the region from one Trump venture to another when he visits Saudi Arabia, Qa-tar and the United Arab Emirates next week on the first foreign tour of his second term.
Asked whether Trump would make visits or meetings linked to his own business interests or that of his family, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said it was “ridiculous” to “even suggest that President Trump is doing anything for his own benefit” and that he had “lost money for being president.”
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey says President Donald Trump is wrong and told Vineeta Sawkar on the WCCO Morning News says that it would be against Minnesota state law, and is also a violation of a separation ordinance between the city and the federal government.
“Look, I’m the mayor of this city and my responsibility is to make sure that people are safe and I want our officers, I want them stopping violent crime,” Frey explains. “I don’t want our officers spending a single second assisting someone who’s undocumented, and that’s the only issue.”
Mayor Frey says that the Minneapolis police department has more important things to do and adding immigration enforcement duties would be unsafe for the city.
“I’ll just ask kind of the, the basic question like what’s more dangerous? A serial killer who’s on the loose or a guy that’s just dropping his kids off at school and then going to work a landscaping job? There are more important things that we need our officers to do and we’re able to prioritize that,” Frey said.
President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order at 5 p.m. Monday requiring commercial truck drivers in the United States to speak English, “America’s official language,” according to his spokeswoman
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt tweeted a link to a Breitbart article on Monday morning.
A document reviewed by Breitbart said, “President Trump believes that English is a non-negotiable safety requirement for professional drivers, as they should be able to read and understand traffic signs, communicate with traffic safety officers, border patrol, agricultural checkpoints, and cargo weight-limit station personnel, and provide and receive feedback and directions in English.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is locked in open warfare with his own Pentagon, a hotbed of distrust and dysfunction that commands the most powerful military on the face of the Earth.
No Trump Cabinet official has endured more turmoil in less time than Hegseth, who survived a nasty confirmation battle only to be burned — again and again — by leaks, blunders and now backlash from his own handpicked aides.
