Democratic lawmakers are trying to block billions of dollars in arms sales to two Middle Eastern countries to protest investments in President Donald Trump’s personal business and a jet offered to him.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) plans to force a vote on five major arms sales to the United Arab Emirates and Qatar valued at $3.5 billion following Qatar’s offer to gift a luxury Boeing aircraft to use as Air Force One and the UAE’s move to invest $2 billion in Trump’s cryptocurrency venture. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) plans to co-lead the measures to block UAE arms sales.
The vote offers Democrats — who have struggled to form a message in opposition to Trump’s agenda — a line of attack that could resonate with voters. And it deals a tough vote to Republicans, who will have to choose between their allegiance to the president and their ethical and logistical concerns.
The resolutions target the sale to Qatar of MQ-9 Reaper drones and joint direct attack munitions, as well as other munitions and radar systems worth $1.9 billion.
“This isn’t a gift out of the goodness of their hearts — it’s an illegal bribe that the president of the United States is chomping at the bit to accept,” Murphy said in an interview. Unless Qatar revoked its offer to give Trump the plane, he said, he would move to block the arms sale.
The lawmakers are trying to introduce similar resolutions to block sales to the UAE of around $1.6 billion, including Chinook helicopters, munitions and support for the UAE’s fleet of Apache and Black Hawk helicopters.
The measures will be introduced as so-called joint resolutions of disapproval, which would force a floor vote. It’s unclear whether the resolutions will pass, but they could gain the support of a few Republican lawmakers uncomfortable with the arrangements.
Administration officials and some Republican allies in Congress have dismissed the criticism leveled by Murphy and others against the president.
“Chris Murphy is running for president,” Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho), the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair, said Tuesday on Fox News, in response to Murphy’s criticism of the potential deals. “The Middle East is, like I said, changing every day. The more President Trump can convince those people that they should have an investment in the United States, the closer we get the less likely we are to have problems.”
The White House National Security Council did not respond to a request for comment.
The Qatar plane deal has opened a fresh — and rare — instance of Republicans joining Democrats to push back against the Trump administration.
Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), have voiced skepticism, if not outright opposition, over the optics and logistics of Trump’s plans to accept a luxury jet from a Middle Eastern nation.
Lawmakers and experts argue the gift would come at a huge cost to taxpayers since officials would need to overhaul the jet to meet security needs. Trump has proposed that the jet, after his time in office, would stay at his presidential library, which some lawmakers have criticized as inappropriate.
“I have some concerns about the aircraft coming to the United States from the Qataris, from a security aspect,” House Armed Services Vice Chair Rob Wittman (R-Va.) said Thursday at POLITICO’s Security Summit. “Air Force One has a very specific function, has things that it has to have on board. All the questions, too, of accepting gifts from foreign governments, all those ethical questions, I think all those are very pertinent questions that need to be answered.”
