Gov. Ron DeSantis asked Floridians to pay attention to Qatar's "dangerous" ties amid President Donald Trump's controversial plan to replace Air Force One with a jet from the Qatari royal family.
While DeSantis dodged a direct question on whether he thinks Trump should accept the "free gift" from the Middle Eastern nation, he did ruminate on Qatar's past "terrorism" and the billions they've spent on education and lobbying in the U.S., FOX reported.
"I think Qatar—they play a double game. They are involved in funding some very, very dangerous causes. I know they've been involved in terrorism," DeSantis said at a Brandon press conference Wednesday morning. He praised Trump's Middle East policy during his first term, urging the President to "replicate" that stance going forward.
"I do think Qatar's influence—they have spent a lot of money in this country, and I think that that's something that people should take notice of," he added.
The Qatari question has plagued Republican conversations since the Sunday scoop that the nation's royal family will donate a luxury jet to the Defense Department. The $400 million Boeing 747-8, which would become the new Air Force One, would be one of the biggest foreign gifts given to the U.S.
And many Trump-allied Republicans are skeptical.
"I'm not flying on a Qatari plane. They support Hamas," Sen. Rick Scott told The Hill in a rare departure from the President.
"I think they have a really disturbing pattern of funding theocratic lunatics who want to murder us, funding Hamas and Hezbollah, and that’s a real problem,” Texas Sen. Ted Cruz echoed to CNBC.
Aside from the terrorist ties, others have raised concerns that the administration directly accepting a massive gift could violate the Constitution's ban on public office holders accepting a present from "any King, Prince, or foreign State."
Trump, who's defended the deal as nothing more than a present ("Why wouldn't I accept the gift?"), noted that the plane isn't for him, but for the Department of Defense. If accepted, it will be decommissioned after his term for his presidential library, he added.
This welcoming tone from the president marks a stark contrast from his past hardline views on Qatar, which he accused of harboring terrorism during his first term. U.S.-Qatari relations appeared to soften under President Joe Biden, when the Middle Eastern nation became a major non-NATO ally in 2022.
Trump is now on a trip to the Gulf states, where he's announced that sanctions on Syria will be lifted and that he has secured a $600 billion commitment from Saudi Arabia to invest in the U.S, Reuters reported.
