“You give a convicted criminal immunity, and you make him the most powerful person in the world, and he’s going to abuse that power in innumerable ways.”
View the full interview here.
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) joined MSNBC’s The Briefing with Jen Psaki to blast President Donald Trump for his acceptance of a $400 million plane from the Qatari government to use as Air Force One and his self-enriched trip to the Middle East.
Yesterday, Schiff led the push in demanding the acting Inspector General at the Department of Defense open an independent inquiry into the Department of Defense’s (DOD) involvement in facilitating the transfer of this unprecedented foreign gift for Trump’s eventual personal use.
Key Excerpts:
On Trump prioritizing his family’s enrichment over the American people:
[…] This acquisition of this $400 million plane really stinks to high heaven. Everything is wrong about this deal, and apparently, even if you accept the administration’s own account of this, it was offered directly to the Trump foundation. They checked with their own counsel, and that would be illegal. It would violate the Emoluments Clause, it would be unconstitutional. So, basically, they decided to launder it through the Defense Department to see if they could use the Defense Department, the Air Force, as an intermediary and launder this deal to see if they could somehow make something unlawful unconstitutional, now somehow copacetic. But it does nothing of the sort. It simply embroils the Defense Department in this scheme. And one of the things that I’m demanding to know from the DOD, and we’ll find out these answers whether we get it from the DOD or other sources, that is, what is it going to cost to retrofit this thing? How long is it going to take? And if this plane isn’t going to be ready for two or three years until Trump is basically on the way out the door, basically what this is all about is getting a $400 million aircraft for Donald Trump when he leaves the presidency. That’s really what this is about.
And I was struck in listening to your opening discussion about the fact that not only is this the first major trip of Donald Trump during his presidency, it was the first major trip of Donald Trump during the first Trump administration. And why go to the Gulf in both cases? Why make that your first presidential major visit? It’s a little bit like that famous bank robber who said when he was asked, “Why do you rob banks?” Because that’s where the money is. Donald Trump is going to the Gulf, not because it’s the most important region for the United States of America, but because that’s where the money is, and that’s where the money is for Trump and his family. It’s where the golf deals are, it’s where the stablecoin deals are. It’s where the enrichment of the family is, and meanwhile, the rest of the country is left in the lurch. We’re paying more for our airfare. We’re paying more for our baggage fees. But Donald Trump doesn’t like having to ride around in Air Force One because the plane is getting too old for him. He wants this palace in the sky.
On the dangerous ramifications of the presidential immunity decision:
[…] Let’s not forget, this is a convicted criminal who is now the president of the United States. You give a convicted criminal immunity, and you make him the most powerful person in the world, and he’s going to abuse that power in innumerable ways. If we were concerned in the first Trump administration that Gulf nations were trying to endear themselves to Donald Trump by buying whole suites at his hotels, whole floors at his hotels, that is chicken feed compared to the open graft that is going on now. And we can thank John Roberts for that. The most significant decision of his tenure as Chief Justice is this terrible immunity decision. And to hear the Chief Justice the other day bemoan the state of the rule of law in America, well, thank you for that opinion that told Donald Trump that he can get away with just about anything. And of course, the people around him know they will get a pardon from him on the way out the door, so they also feel immune.
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