Washington, D.C. — Today, Representative Scott Peters (CA-50) signed onto Rep. Jamie Raskin’s (MD-8), resolution to condemn President Donald Trump’s effort to accept a $400 million luxury private jet from the royal family of Qatar without obtaining Congress’s approval, in violation of the Constitution’s Foreign Emoluments Clause.

“President Trump continues to flout the Constitution and the rule of law,” said Rep. Peters. “It is so plainly obvious that this 'gift' is a means to curry favor and improperly influence U.S. foreign policy. Just because this corrupt act is taking place out in the open does not mean we should not call it out. Rather, it is more important than ever to hold the President accountable so that such unconstitutional behavior does not become normalized.”

On May 11, an ABC News report revealed that President Trump planned to accept a $400 million private jet from the Qatari royal family—a lavish and unconstitutional gift that would become the property of his personal presidential library foundation at the conclusion of his term. In a news conference on May 12, when asked about this reported gift, Trump stated, “I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer… I could be a stupid person and say, ‘no, we don’t want a free, very expensive airplane.’” In 2016, then-candidate Trump criticized Hillary Clinton for donations the Clinton Foundation accepted from Qatar.

While Trump claimed that this extravagant gift from a foreign government would result in “big savings [that] will be spent, instead, to MAKE AMERICA GREAT,” it in fact would require potentially billions of dollars in taxpayer funds to retrofit and debug the plane.

Click here to read the resolution.

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