Key Points – Representative Jamie Raskin, a constitutional law expert and former Trump impeachment manager, heavily criticized President Trump’s planned acceptance of a multi-million dollar airplane from Qatar, labeling it a potential “absolute ripoff and racketeering” and a defiance of the Constitution’s emoluments clause.
-Speaking on a recent podcast, Raskin suggested that while he hasn’t committed to supporting current impeachment efforts, the Founding Fathers considered such violations involving foreign states to be impeachable offenses.
-He expressed skepticism about Trump’s justifications for the gift and whether Congress, under GOP control, would adequately investigate the matter.
Trump In Trouble Again?
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) is a former constitutional law professor. He was also an impeachment manager, during Donald Trump’s first impeachment in 2021, and has often been treated by the Democratic Party as an authority when it comes to the impeachment process.
With Trump back in office, and Democrats talking again about potential impeachment, Raskin appeared on a podcast this week and was asked whether recent developments, including the president’s planned acceptance of a plane from the government of Qatar, could lead to impeachment.
That Plane From Qatar
It was reported over the weekend that Qatar’s royal family had offered, and Trump planned to accept, the gift of a plane worth hundreds of millions of dollars from that country, which would be used as the new Air Force One. Some estimates have listed the cost of the plane at over $400 million, which would likely mark the largest foreign gift to a U.S. president in history.
“I think it’s a great gesture from Qatar. Appreciate it very much,” Trump told reporters this week, during his Middle East visit. “I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer. I mean, I could be a stupid person and say, ‘No, we don’t want a free, very expensive airplane.’ But it was, I thought it was a great gesture.”
However, many Democrats, and even some Republicans, have a less rosy view of the president accepting a free plane. And that includes Raskin, who appeared this week on a podcast hosted by Greg Sargent of The New Republic.
“Absolute ripoff and racketeering”
Raskin ripped the acceptance of the plane, while also comparing it to past Trump actions, starting with the use of his hotels, which he sees as violating the Constitution’s emoluments clause.
“They violated not just the foreign emoluments clause, but the domestic emoluments clause in taking millions from the Secret Service and other federal agencies and departments when they stayed at various Trump properties,” Raskin said on the podcast of Trump’s actions. “So at this point, he feels completely uninhibited and unbridled for the crypto scam and now just to openly take a $400 million jet plane gift from Qatar. But of course, it’s an absolute defiance of the meaning of our Constitution.”
Raskin went on to rip Trump’s defense of the plane gift as “simply not credible with respect either to the facts or to the law.”
He wants a new airplane. He wants this castle in the sky. He gets it for while he’s president, and then he gets it afterwards when it technically goes to his library. But I don’t think they’re going to put it on the shelves of the library. I think he’s going to continue to fly with it,” Raskin said. Reports have been conflicting over what will happen to the plane after Trump’s presidency.
He also said that Congress will look into whether the gift is acceptable, although he’s not sure if Republicans, who control both chambers, will agree to go along with that.
Impeachment?
Sargent asked if the Democrats might pursue impeachment, specifically over the emoluments clause violation, concerning the plane, while noting that neither of the first two impeachments of Trump, in his first term, had anything to do with the emoluments clause.
The Maryland Congressman did not commit to pursuing such a policy — and Raskin has not signed on as a cosponsor of the existing impeachment resolution in the House — but he did give a Constitutional rationale in the interview.
“Yes, there are many indications in the conversations of the Founders that violations of the emoluments clause were impeachable,” Raskin said. “It seems to me the cardinal principle of our constitutional system that you can’t use public office for the purposes of private moneymaking. And it’s especially dangerous when what you’re doing is engaging in moneymaking activities with foreign states.”
About the Author:
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
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