Former Vice President Mike Pence has urged President Donald Trump to reject Qatar‘s offer of a $400 million jumbo jet to replace Air Force One amid fears it could jeopardize the commander-in-chief’s safety.
In an interview with Meet the Press host Kristen Welker, Pence said he was concerned that Qatar supports Hamas, and that the Arab kingdom has supported Al Qaeda.
The White House has rebuffed opposition to the offer, indicating that Trump will accept the new plane.
But Pence said on Friday that the president should change his mind and turn down the Qataris on security and constitutional grounds.
“First, we’ve got to remember who Qatar is,” said Pence. “We’ve got a military base there. I have members of our immediate family that have deployed to the region.”
“But Qatar has a long history of playing both sides,” he continued. “They support Hamas. They supported Al Qaeda. Qatar has actually financed pro-Hamas protests on American campuses across the United States.”
Qatar has strongly denied claims that it has links to groups connected to al Qaeda or the Islamic State. According to The New York Times, Qatar has spent millions of dollars propping up the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip.
Pence, who served as Trump’s vice president during his first term, said he hopes the president “reconsiders” the deal, saying it is “inconsistent with our security, with our intelligence needs.”
“Others have observed, there are profound issues,” Pence continued, citing “the potential for intelligence gathering, the need to ensure the President of the United States is safe and secure as he travels around the world.”
“I think it’s just a bad idea, and my hope is the president will think better of it,” Pence said, adding that there are also “very real constitutional issues” involved in accepting gifts from foreign governments.
Speaking from his home in Indiana, Pence claimed that if the Qataris wanted to make a gift to the Pentagon, they could put the $400 million toward “infrastructure on their military base.”
The aircraft offer has provoked opposition from both Democrats and Republicans, but Trump claimed it would be “stupid” of him to refuse.
Trump and Pence have not seen eye to eye since the then-vice president certified the 2020 election loss on January 6, 2021, the day insurgents invaded the Capitol building.
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