The Chickenshit Media Left An Important Detail Out Of A Huge Scandal

By Conover Kennard — May 12, 2025

The royal family of Qatar is bribing Donald J. Trump with a lavish $400 million jet to use as Air Force One until the end of his term, when the aircraft will be transferred to his presidential library. In other words, he's keeping it after he leaves office. As reported here, Trump was said to have toured the "flying palace" when it visited Palm Beach in February. And aside from this being a bribe from Qatar, it can ~~possibly~~ come to Trump wired for sound and video.

ABC News calls the bribe a "gift." The Boeing 747-8 features 10 bathrooms, areas for relaxation, and entertainment, and it's gaudy like Trump's Mar-a-Lago with golden features. Quatar dangled a golden plane before Donald, and he had to have it.

ABC News also reported that Attorney General Pam Bondi and Trump's top White House lawyer, David Warrington, concluded it would be "legally permissible" for Donald to accept the lavish aircraft. Still, it is not legal according to the Constitution. However, they allege it is not a bribe because the gift does not hinge on an official act.

Other media sources also left out the word bribe, even though the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause bars anyone holding government office from accepting any present, emolument, office, or title from any “King, Prince, or foreign State” without congressional consent.

It's a flying bribe which should be named Emoluents One. As one Bluesky user wrote, "It's a bribe in plane sight." Others weighed in, too.

It’s especially galling that AG Pam Bondi personally wrote the memo approving the gift of the Qatari airplane. Her last job was as a lobbyist for Qatar! efile.fara.gov/docs/6415-Ex...

— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw.bsky.social) 2025-05-11T17:46:08.030Z

It’s journalistic malpractice for NBC News to spend 34 words in a headline and subhead about the flying bribe from Qatar and not give any hint of the mind-blowingly corrupt nature of the deal. If you’re afraid to honestly explain why it’s a scandal, at least call it “controversial.”

— Mark Jacob (@markjacob.bsky.social) 2025-05-11T18:07:21.939Z

They can “claim it’s not a bribe” all they want.

Bob Menendez claimed all those gold bars weren’t a bribe.

— Jon Cryer (@mrjoncryer.bsky.social) 2025-05-11T13:58:11.347Z

Trump must seek Congress’ consent to take this $300 million gift from Qatar. The Constitution is perfectly clear: no present “of any kind whatever” from a foreign state without Congressional permission. A gift you use for four years and then deposit in your library is still a… https://t.co/GmTWK3pFJi

— Rep. Jamie Raskin (@RepRaskin) May 11, 2025

Eric has been over there doing deals with the Qatari wealth fund for a bunch of real estate deals. There's also a crypto connection --- that big confab was held in Doha.

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/05/u...

— digby (@digby56.bsky.social) 2025-05-11T18:05:00.439Z

The main I'm wondering about is that they have this existing channel to give bribes. And the crypto stuff is on top of that. The amount of money that passes their limitless. So wondering why the plane. And maybe the answer is just why not.

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm.bsky.social) 2025-05-11T18:06:57.994Z

I love how he has Bondi providing a ‘legal’ ‘analysis’ of what is a prima facia bribe as not being a bribe.

— 💥🐟🌮🇺🇦🇨🇦 (@crunchyfishtaco.bsky.social) 2025-05-11T12:38:43.239Z

Stop calling this gaudy plane a "gift"--it is a bribe.

And transferring ownership to Trump's nonexistent "presidential library" is obviously tax fraud.

— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@mrsbettybowers.bsky.social) 2025-05-11T16:46:54.956Z

Honestly? The $400M plane from Qatar is quaint compared to his crypto scam, memecoin con, insider trading, and tariff shakedowns.

— Mueller, She Wrote (@muellershewrote.com) 2025-05-11T16:13:10.788Z

Our wannabe King is continuing his corruption in office while thumbing it in our faces.