BURSTSenate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) pressed Attorney General Pam Bondi on Wednesday over her decision to deem President Trump’s potential acceptance of a luxury Qatari jet as a “legally permissible” gift.
Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, argued that Bondi should have recused herself from that decision due to her past lobbying work for the Qatari government and that Congress should be the entity deciding whether the U.S. will accept such a gift.
“[T]here are serious questions about whether you should have recused yourself from this matter,” Durbin wrote to the attorney general, pointing to her decision not to list Qatar as a conflict of interest during her committee hearing process.
“When I asked you about this during your confirmation hearing, you refused to commit to recusing yourself from matters involving Qatar, but you did commit to ‘consult with the career ethics officials within the Department [of Justice] and make the appropriate decision,’” Durbin continued, noting that multiple senior ethics officials have since been removed and replaced with political appointees “who are beholden to you for their positions”
The Illinois Democrat called on Bondi to provide information to the committee in two weeks on whom she consulted with about her potential conflict of interest and any related records.
The move is the latest in a string of Democratic actions after Trump indicated he is closing in on accepting the plane, which is valued at $400 million and would immediately go to his presidential library at the end of the term.
Trump is on Qatar on Wednesday, where he saw that country's major airline agree to a deal to purchase planes from Boeing.
Multiple Democrats tried to pass resolutions targeting the Qatari plane via unanimous request on Tuesday. They were denied by Republicans, who note that the deal has not been completed.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) also placed a hold on political appointees to the Department of Justice and called on the the Department of Justice’s Foreign Agents Registration Act unit to “disclose all activities by Qatari foreign agents inside the U.S. that could benefit” from the president or his business interests.
He also laid out a number of other questions, including the state of readiness of the jet, numerous safety considerations that he and some Republicans have laid out, what it means for the contract between the U.S. government and Boeing and who in DOJ signed off on allowing such a deal to move forward and pass legal muster.
“This is not just naked corruption, it is also a grave national security threat,” Schumer said in his Tuesday floor remarks. “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.”
Trump has defended the potential move, saying it would be “stupid” of him not to accept it.
A number of Republicans have indicated they have concerns about the potential transaction, stemming from safety and security issues, Qatar’s past support for Hamas and the appearance of a potential quid pro quo.