The Senate has rejected efforts to block multi-billion-dollar arms sales to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, with votes splitting along party lines. Democrats have argued that these sales would effectively benefit President Donald Trump personally, citing a $400 million luxury jet from Qatar for use as Air Force One and a proposed $2 billion investment from the UAE in a Trump-affiliated cryptocurrency project. While the administration has maintained that the jet was acquired in accordance with the law, and Trump himself has defended the acquisition as a cost-saving measure, lawmakers have raised concerns over transparency, cost, and the jet’s potential fate.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in Senate testimony on Wednesday, refused to disclose the cost or delivery timeline of the luxury Qatari jet being retrofitted for use as Air Force One, sparking bipartisan Senate criticism. Lawmakers have raised concerns over transparency, cost, and reports the plane may be transferred to Trump’s presidential library. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who forced the votes, argued on the Senate floor that allowing the sales to proceed would effectively sanction what Democrats say is Trump’s brazen corruption. He and allies cited Trump’s solicitation of a $400 million luxury jet from Qatar for his use as Air Force, and a $2 billion Emirati investment in a Trump-affiliated cryptocurrency venture.
The administration has said it accepted the jet in accordance with the law, while Trump himself has defended the acquisition, calling it a goodwill gesture by Qatar and a cost-saving stopgap due to massive delays in the Air Force’s effort to replace the current fleet with two Boeing planes. Still, lawmakers have questioned the cost of making the foreign jet secure and functional enough to serve as Air Force One. Murphy, in a floor speech Wednesday, argued that Congress approving the arms deals amounted to Congress “greasing the wheels” of presidential corruption. Allies also pointed to the UAE’s purported role in Sudan’s ongoing civil war and both countries’ authoritarian governments.
“Trump would not be moving forward with these arms sales if he wasn’t getting what he wanted personally from these two countries,” Murphy said. “American foreign policy should not be for sale.”
Republicans largely dismissed the resolutions as political theater and defended the arms sales as important to strengthening Middle Eastern partners. Senate Foreign Relations Chair Jim Risch (R-Idaho) argued the sales support two major U.S. allies. Qatar, a major non-NATO ally, hosts the largest U.S. base in the Middle East, while the UAE, a military partner and participant in the Abraham Accords, opposes Iran and its proxies. “These proposed sales will support the national security objectives of the United States by improving the security of two allies that continue to be important forces for stability in the Middle East,” he said.