Trump Tries Totally Bogus Defense on Qatar Private Jet Gift

Donald Trump is trying to claim Qatar’s luxury plane “gift” to him isn’t a big deal because Ronald Reagan did the same thing. 

“I think this was just a gesture of good faith, and, uh, I don’t get it,” Trump told reporters Monday at the White House regarding backlash over what suspiciously looks like a bribe. 

“Someday, it’ll be like Ronald Reagan, they decommission them, you know, they get to a certain age, they decommission ’em. It’ll go to my library. They’re talking about going to my library in years out,” Trump added, saying that he wouldn’t be using the jet after he leaves office. 

There is an Air Force One jet at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, California. But it was used by seven presidents from 1973 to 2001 before being donated to the library in 2004. Reagan left office in 1989 after two terms as president, and passed away two months before the plane arrived at his library. 

When does Trump plan to receive the jet, and when does he plan to have it “decommissioned” and sent to his future presidential library, wherever that may be? The plane gift is not only receiving criticism from Democrats and Trump’s usual critics but even his far-right allies, as a foreign government making such a large donation smacks of corruption. It also isn’t a good look for the primary mode of transportation 
of the president of the United States to come from a foreign country, given potential surveillance concerns.  

No matter how much Trump tries to deflect, receiving a luxury plane from Qatar looks very much like a bribe, especially since the Trump family business struck a deal late last month to build a luxury golf resort in Qatar. But Trump hasn’t shied away from unethical behavior in his second term, especially when there’s money involved.

Pope Leo XIV is calling for an end to the “war of words,” and for the world to stand with journalists seeking truth.

The newly minted pope directly addressed journalists in Italian at a press conference at the Vatican on Monday, making an appeal for kindness, truth, and journalistic freedom.

“The way we communicate is of fundamental importance: We must say ‘no’ to the war of words and images, we must reject the paradigm of war,” he said. “Let us disarm communication of all prejudice and resentment, fanaticism, and even hatred; let us free it from aggression. We do not need loud, forceful communication, but rather communication that is capable of listening and of gathering the voices of the weak who have no voice.”

Pope Leo also raised support for journalists jailed or reporting from war zones.

“The Church recognizes these witnesses—I am thinking of those who report on war even at the cost of their lives—the courage of those who defend dignity, justice, and the right of people to be informed, because only informed individuals can make free choices,” he said.

According to Reporters Without Borders, at least 550 journalists are being detained across the world. Around 160 Palestinian journalists have been killed by Israel in Gaza.

The speech may catch Trump and JD Vance’s attention, especially given news last week that the pope doesn’t seem to be a huge fan of the two.

This statement is yet another example of Pope Leo setting the tone, leaning into the Catholic social justice that his predecessor, Pope Francis, was known for. Leo has also called for a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to Israel’s blockade on humanitarian aid to the territory.

Donald Trump is resurrecting one of his controversial first-term policies to supposedly hack prescription drug prices—but the whole effort is such a nothingburger that he very nearly forgot to sign the executive order enacting it.

“Starting today the United States will no longer subsidize the health care of other countries, that’s what we were doing,” Trump said at a White House press conference Monday, referring to the European Union. He then claimed that low drug prices outside the U.S. were because the federal government had been financially offsetting would-be high prices in other countries.

But that’s detached from reality—the U.S. pays more for drugs because it’s an outlier among high-income, first world countries, which predominantly support universal public health coverage.

Trump’s first-term rule—“Most Favored Nation”—was focused on lowering the cost of Medicare payments on certain drugs, but it barely made it out of the White House. The policy was blocked by federal courts shortly after it was announced in late 2020, and was then rescinded by President Joe Biden in 2021.

This time around, Trump’s order sets a 30-day deadline for drugmakers to negotiate lower prices. If there is no deal, then the U.S. will tie its drug prices to those paid by other countries. But as of now, nothing has changed.

Trump reiterated that the U.S. would no longer “subsidize” drug prices in other countries, telling reporters that the “game is up,” while alluding to potentially increasing auto tariffs if they don’t comply.

“If they want to get cute, they don’t have to sell cars into the United States anymore. They won’t get cute,” Trump said. “I’ll defend the drug companies from that standpoint.”

He was also characteristically vague on how much prices would change.

“Drug prices will come down by much more really if you think,” Trump said. “But between 59 and 80 and I guess even 90 percent.”

“We’re getting them down 60, 70, 80, 90 percent. But actually more than that if you think about it in a way, mathematically.”

Other things that researchers point to as potentially resolving high drug prices in the U.S. include restricting pharmaceutical monopolies within the country, reworking insurance benefits to restrict out-of-pocket costs, and recentralizing price negotiations through the leverage of a single-payer system (like those of Australia, Germany, the U.K., or any number of other wealthy nations), according to a report by the Commonwealth Fund, a private American foundation focused on health care reform.

But none of that was on Trump’s radar. Instead, the president took time out of his morning to deride Obamacare, which (as of 2024) provided public health insurance to some 45 million Americans. Trump, however, claimed that it “doesn’t work.”

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who ran for president on a “Medicare for all” platform in 2016, released a statement agreeing with Trump. But he flipped the president’s script slightly, arguing that the problem with drug pricing is not that foreign nations pay too little, but rather that American citizens pay far too much. Sanders also warned Trump’s efforts are doomed to fail.

“Further, as Trump well knows, his executive order will be thrown out by the courts,” Sanders wrote in a press release. “If Trump is serious about making real change rather than just issuing a press release, he will support legislation I will soon be introducing to make sure we pay no more for prescription drugs than people in other major countries.”

“If Republicans and Democrats come together on this legislation, we can get it passed in a few weeks,” Sanders said.

In a post on Truth Social Sunday, Trump pledged that the initiative would save the government trillions of dollars and falsely claimed that Democrats had stood in the way of this kind of pharmaceutical reform, ignoring the fact that health care and pharmacy drug reform has been a pillar of the progressive platform in recent years (see: Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s “Medicare for All” 2021 revival, which would have created a single-payer system in this country).

“Campaign Contributions can do wonders, but not with me, and not with the Republican Party. We are going to do the right thing, something that the Democrats have fought for many years,” Trump wrote.

But in 2006, Republicans were the ones who adamantly stood in the way of federal drug-price negotiations, ripping the teeth out of a bill that would have mandated drug companies to negotiate lower drug prices with Medicare officials.

“Instead of actually tackling the issues that concern average American families, the Republicans have passed legislation to help their wealthy friends and the huge corporations that support their campaigns,” said former North Carolina Representative G.K. Butterfield at the time before the measure passed.

This story has been updated.

Donald Trump is trying to take credit for the selection of the first American pope—who doesn’t seem to like him all that much.

In a post on Truth Social Sunday, the president claimed that ABC News’s chief global affairs correspondent Martha Raddatz had suggested that he’d had absolutely nothing to do with the selection of Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Prevost to be the next leader of the Catholic church.

“So funny to watch old timer Martha Raditz on ABC Fake News (the Slopadopolus show!) this morning, blurt out that, effectively, Pope Leo’s selection had nothing to do with Donald Trump,” the president wrote. “It came out of nowhere, but it was on her Trump Deranged Mind.

“Remember, I did WIN the Catholic Vote, by a lot!” Trump added.

Trump appeared to be reacting to a Sunday roundtable on This Week (formerly hosted by George Stephanopoulos but now hosted by Raddatz), where ABC News senior national correspondent Terry Moran said that, according to Vatican insiders, Trump hadn’t been a factor in the cardinals’ decision.

“The question that we had was, ‘How much did the American moment with President Trump matter?’” Moran asked. “They’re telling us not at all. It was [Prevost] that mattered.”

“That’s what we’ve been hearing this morning. It was him,” Raddatz replied.

It’s also possible that Trump’s presidency did have some effect on the selection of Pope Leo—but maybe not in the way he imagines.

Cardinal Robert Barron, bishop of the Diocese of Winona–Rochester in Minnesota who traveled to Rome for the papal conclave, relayed the words of Cardinal Francis George, the former American prelate, to CBS News right after Leo’s election last week.

“Cardinal George of Chicago, of happy memory, was one of my great mentors, and he said: ‘Look, until America goes into political decline, there won’t be an American pope,’” Barron recounted.

“And his point was, if America is kind of running the world politically, culturally, economically, they don’t want America running the world religiously. So I think there’s some truth to that, that we’re such a superpower and so dominant, they don’t wanna give us, also, control over the church,” he added.

Donald Trump’s “big beautiful bill” could leave millions without medical care, thanks to proposed Medicaid cuts.

House Republicans released their proposed budget Sunday night, and it includes $880 million in cuts, largely to Medicaid, to help cover the cost of $4.5 trillion in tax cuts. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office’s estimates, the Medicaid cuts would leave 8.6 million people without health care over the next decade.

The cuts would come primarily due to work requirements—a minimum of 80 hours per month for able-bodied adults—as well as a requirement to verify eligibility twice a year, rather than once.

The move is sure to set off conflict in the House, even among the GOP. Several Republicans in the House have reportedly told Speaker Mike Johnson that they would not support cuts to programs that their constituents depend on, putting the bill in jeopardy. Democrats say that it’s yet another attempt of the GOP to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

“In no uncertain terms, millions of Americans will lose their health care coverage,” said Democratic Representative Frank Pallone, the ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, which controls health care spending. In his words, “hospitals will close, seniors will not be able to access the care they need, and premiums will rise for millions of people if this bill passes.”

Republicans have been telegraphing cuts to the program for weeks, if not months, behind the scenes. Low-income Americans, many of them in the rural areas where Trump’s support is strongest, stand to suffer the most from such cuts.

The bill isn’t the only threat to Medicaid—Republicans are also touting a plan to return much of the health care costs from the program to the states. Such an idea, as laid out by Representative Austin Scott last month, would also leave millions without health care in states that choose not to pick up the slack. If the GOP gets its way, the lives of millions of Americans will be at risk.

MAGA disciple Laura Loomer is deeply disappointed in President Trump for accepting a luxury jet from what she called “jihadists in suits.”

The New York Times reported Sunday that the Trump administration plans to accept a Boeing 747-8 plane as a gift from Qatar’s royal family. The plane will be upgraded into the new Air Force One. This would be one of the most lavish gifts that a U.S. president has ever been given, and may be in use well after Trump’s presidency ends, as it is being given to his presidential library after his term.

“So the fact that the Defense Department is getting a GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE, of a 747 aircraft to replace the 40 year old Air Force One, temporarily, in a very public and transparent transaction, so bothers the Crooked Democrats that they insist we pay, TOP DOLLAR, for the plane,” the president wrote on Truth Social. “Anybody can do that! The Dems are World Class Losers!!! MAGA.”

Loomer was quick to voice her distaste for the move (even as it was rooted in blatant Islamophobia).

“It’s going to be hard for the admin to designate the Muslim Brotherhood and obliterate Iranian proxies in Hamas and Hezbollah when Qatar funds the Muslim Brotherhood, harbors HAMAS, and the US just accepted a $400 million jet from Qatar,” she commented on X. “We are watching an Islamic takeover of our country in real time.”

Loomer continued.

“I love President Trump. I would take a bullet for him. But, I have to call a spade a spade. We cannot accept a $400 million ‘gift’ from jihadists in suits,” she wrote shortly after the first post. “The Qataris fund the same Iranian proxies in Hamas and Hezbollah who have murdered US Service Members. The same proxies that have worked with the Mexican cartels to get jihadists across our border. This is really going to be such a stain on the admin if this is true. And I say that as someone who would take a bullet for Trump. I’m so disappointed.”

While Loomer’s reasoning is rooted in her hatred for Muslims, the conflicts of interest she notes are very real.

“It’s hard to see it as a coincidence when Trump’s company just announced a new golf resort in Qatar, reportedly partnered with a company owned by the country’s government, and will soon be meeting with senior Qatari officials in a Middle East trip that also features meetings with heads of state of two other countries he has property developments in,” said Jordan Libowitz, a spokesman for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “At this point, it’s impossible to tell the difference between decisions being made by the White House for the good of the country and for the good of the Trump Organization.”

Donald Trump won’t be so tough on China, after all.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced early Monday that U.S. tariffs on China would temporarily decrease from 145 percent to 30 percent for the next 90 days. The suspension followed a meeting in Geneva where Bessent and other U.S. officials met with their Chinese counterparts and—at least for now—put aside some of their differences.

“We concluded that we have a shared interest,” Bessent said at a news conference following the discussion. “The consensus from both delegations is that neither side wanted a decoupling.”

In a joint statement, both countries said they recognized “the importance of a sustainable, long-term, and mutually beneficial economic and trade relationship.”

On the flip side, China said it would lower its import tariff on American products to 10 percent from 125 percent.

Both nations agreed to maintain a reciprocal tariff rate of 10 percent, according to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, who called the arrangement a “deal.” The extra 20 percent on China is punishment for the country supposedly not doing enough to stop fentanyl from entering the U.S.

The final number stands in stark contrast to the tariff level Trump floated just last week. He posted Friday on Truth Social: “80% Tariff on China seems right!”

But market columnists have been quick to note that the 90-day truce is “not a deal.” The Trump administration has promised sector-specific tariffs—something that could fundamentally undermine the fragile $600 billion trade agreement set in place over the weekend.

Still, the news came as a breath of fresh air to investors, who saw stock futures rally shortly after the news broke. The dollar also flourished, rising 1.1 percent against several other currencies in the wake of the tariff pause to hit a one-month high. It was still down 2.3 percent, however, since Trump first announced his sweeping tariff plan in early April.

“Now the conditions are falling into place for a deeper adjustment and a bigger recovery of the dollar to catch up with U.S. equities and bond yields,” Kenneth Broux, senior strategist at Societe Generale in London, told Reuters.

China and the U.S. will continue discussions over the next three months, either in one of the two countries “or a third country upon agreement of the Parties,” according to the joint statement. Representatives in the talks from the U.S. will include Bessent and Greer, while China appointed Vice Premier of the State Council He Lifeng to serve as the country’s negotiator.

Donald Trump is trying desperately to defend receiving a $400 million luxury jet as a gift from Qatar.

In an angry post on Truth Social Sunday night, Trump claimed that he’d done nothing wrong by agreeing to take a Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet from the Qatari royal family to replace Air Force One.

“So the fact that the Defense Department is getting a GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE, of a 747 aircraft to replace the 40 year old Air Force One, temporarily, in a very public and transparent transaction, so bothers the Crooked Democrats that they insist we pay, TOP DOLLAR, for the plane,” Trump wrote.

“Anybody can do that! The Dems are World Class Losers!!!” he added.

Sources familiar with the plans told ABC News that Trump’s supposedly “very public and transparent transaction” was expected to be announced this week. One source told NBC News that talks about gifting Trump that specific plane had been in the works for “quite some time,” and that when the formal offer materialized, the president “happily accepted.”

The jet will be gifted from Qatar’s Defense Ministry to the U.S. Department of Defense, where it will be outfitted with security and communications equipment to military standard. The plane, which will then be worth an estimated $400 million, will be transferred to Trump’s Presidential Library Foundation in 2029, sources told ABC News.

Since news of the gift was first reported, Democrats have been quick to criticize Trump’s brazen corruption. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wrote in a post on X that the gift was “not just bribery, it’s premium foreign influence with extra legroom.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi, who previously worked as a lobbyist to the government of Qatar, provided a legal memo on the legality of the gift to White House Counsel David Warrington, according to ABC News. The two determined that the gift was “legally permissible,” and that it did not violate laws against bribery or the U.S. Constitution’s emoluments clause, which forbids U.S. government officials accepting gifts “from any King, Prince or foreign State.”

It’s not clear that the deal has actually gone through. Ali Al-Ansari, Qatar’s media attaché to the U.S., said in a statement to Politico that the transfer was “currently under consideration.”

Trump is scheduled to visit Qatar this week. His family business intends to build a Trump-branded golf course in the Gulf nation, as part of a $5.5 billion development project there.

The White House is “actively looking” at ending habeas corpus as it continues its massive deportation crusade, according to deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller.

Habeas corpus requires authorities to justify an individual’s confinement.

“Well, the Constitution is clear—and that of course is the supreme law of the land—that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus can be suspended in a time of invasion,” Miller told reporters at the White House Friday.

The Trump administration has leaned on the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to justify its immigration crackdown while ignoring immigrants’ due process rights, sometimes defying court orders in the process. Donald Trump has defended the infractions by claiming that immigration into the country is tantamount to an “invasion,” and has described the current era as a “time of war.”

But continuing that rhetoric flies in the face of direction by the Supreme Court, which ruled immigrants must be allowed to challenge their deportations under the centuries-old act via habeas corpus.

Judges in several cases have so far ruled against the Trump administration’s interpretation of the law, deciding that the executive branch was illegally leveraging the Alien Enemies Act to deport residents it perceived to be threats.

Last week, U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez ruled that Tren de Aragua’s presence did not constitute an “invasion,” as Trump had claimed.

“The Proclamation exceeds the scope of the statute and, as a result, is unlawful,” Rodriguez decided. “[Administration officials] do not possess the lawful authority under the AEA, and based on the Proclamation, to detain Venezuelan aliens, transfer them within the United States, or remove them from the country.”

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement Friday after gaining entry to Delaney Hall, which ICE opened as a detention facility this week against the city’s wishes.

Baraka and other city officials repeatedly tried to visit the facility this week to serve a representative of its operating company, Geo Group, with summonses over code violations, including refusing to grant access to the facility and failing to have an evacuation plan in place. They were denied entry.

On Friday, three Democratic members of Congress from New Jersey—Representatives Rob Menendez, Bonnie Watson Coleman, and LaMonica McIver—were admitted to tour the facility, and brought Baraka with them. After the mayor gained entry past the gate, the representatives tried to include Baraka in conversations. At least one of them was shoved by agents, and Baraka was subsequently arrested.

The acting U.S. attorney for New Jersey and Donald Trump’s former lawyer, Alina Habba, announced the arrest on X, saying that Baraka “committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings from Homeland Security Investigations to remove himself from the ICE detention center in Newark, New Jersey this afternoon.”

Baraka is currently running in the Democratic primary for governor of New Jersey, and in April, the city of Newark filed a lawsuit against the opening of Delaney Hall, seeking to allow the facility to be inspected. Currently, a federal judge is considering whether to block the opening of the facility, and it’s unclear whether anyone is being held there right now.

Coleman said that she and her colleagues, as well as Baraka, were assaulted by guards.

“What we experienced was the weaponization, is the abuse of power.… They know who we are … they manhandled us and arrested the mayor,” Coleman said, adding that “if they can treat members of Congress like that, imagine how they treat people on the streets.”

It’s the first arrest of a sitting U.S. mayor by the Trump administration over immigration. Last month, the FBI arrested a judge in Milwaukee for allegedly “obstructing an immigration operation.”

This story has been updated.