CNN Host Sounds Alarm on Trump’s New Grift Force One
CNN anchor Anderson Cooper sounded the alarm on Donald Trump’s latest grift in the form of his new $400 million Qatari-gifted luxury jet.
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The Boeing 747-8, donated by the Qatari government and upgraded in order to serve as Air Force One, made its maiden voyage on Wednesday as it ferried the president to North Dakota.
Trump, 80, avoided questions about how much upgrades to the jet had cost American taxpayers, instead insisting it was “very little relative to what it would cost if we did it a different way” and reminding reporters that the plane itself had been a gift.
“There’s never been a plane like it,” Trump said. “Frankly, we couldn’t build a plane like this because we wouldn’t be willing to spend the kind of money necessary. They spent top dollars.”
Discussing the president’s shiny new toy on Wednesday night’s edition of Anderson Cooper 360°, Cooper unloaded on the president for his blatant hypocrisy and continued money-grabbing.
The longtime CNN host pushed back on Trump’s claims that the plane was free, noting that he will be taking the plane with him when he leaves office.
“At best, it‘s a loaner to the White House and the country, meaning American taxpayers are paying plenty for it,” Cooper said. “Just like with the ballroom, several hundred million dollars to bring it up to Air Force One standards, according to the Pentagon. Taxpayers get the bill for a loaner, and the president gets a keeper from Qatar.”
Cooper also played several clips of the president slamming Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential debates for accepting a $1 million donation to the Clinton Foundation from Qatar in 2011 as well as millions of dollars from Saudi Arabia over the years.
“It certainly did not look good, and then-candidate Trump knew it,” Cooper said of the donations. “He knew that even the appearance of impropriety matters. What‘s more, he seemed to understand back then that gifts to public servants do not come with no strings attached,” he continued, before playing a clip of Trump speaking frankly about the access political donations bought him in 2015.
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“I give to many people before this. Before two months ago, I was a businessman. I give to everybody. When they call, I give. And you know what? When I need something from them two years later, three years later, I call them. They are there for me,” Trump said during the first Republican presidential primary debate in August 2015.
“At the time, that openness about buying future favors from elected officials was seen by many as refreshing honesty,” Cooper said of Trump’s comments. “Lately, though, when he‘s on the receiving end of a gift worth far in excess of any that he himself ever gave anyone, the president wants us to believe that he is not like all those other politicians that he criticized for all those years.”
Cooper went on to list examples of other gifts the president has received, including the fake FIFA Peace Prize created just for him and a gold clock and solid gold bar from Swiss industry leaders.
He also mentioned the revelations contained in the president’s financial disclosure, released on Tuesday, which revealed the extent to which the Trump family has profited from questionable business ventures during the president’s second term.
“Virtually any country, company, or individual wanting something from this administration has come bearing gifts, literal gifts, golden gifts often, and even the appearance this creates is staggering when compared to his predecessors, Republicans and Democrats,” Cooper argued.
Citing President Jimmy Carter’s decision to put his peanut farm into a blind trust during his presidency in order to avoid potential conflicts of interest and George H.W. Bush warning his son George W. Bush about the “so-called ‘new friends’ who might try to cozy up to him in anticipation of his father becoming president,” Cooper argued that Trump is ignoring all established norms in order to continue enriching himself.
“This has been the norm for presidents in both parties for decades, for matters involving a whole lot less than a $400 million jumbo jet,” the anchor told viewers. “And again, it is possible that this president cannot be moved even by such absurdly valuable gifts. You might believe that.”
“If that‘s what he is asking the country to believe, he‘s asking them to cast aside all the same suspicions that he himself has raised, all the insinuations he has made, and all he has said about any politician not named Donald J. Trump.”
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The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
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