Scott Bessent compared apples to oranges while defending Donald Trump’s acceptance of a $400 million jet from Qatar.
“The French gave us the Statue of Liberty, the British gave us the Resolute Desk,” the Treasury Secretary said in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper. “I’m not sure they asked for anything in advance.”
Trump said earlier this week he’d have to be “stupid” not to accept the Boeing 747-8 “flying palace” from the Qatari royal family. Critics have expressed concerns about what Qatar expects in return.
Tapper pushed back, pointing out the crucial difference between the Statue of Liberty and the lavish airliner: The iconic landmark remains the property of the U.S. government, while the Qatari jet will be transferred to the Trump Presidential Library Foundation ahead of the president’s departure from office.
“I will just say about the Statue of Liberty, I mean that was authorised by Congress and it belongs to the American people, it doesn’t belong to whoever was president at the time,” Tapper said.
The same can be said of the Resolute Desk, which was given to the United States by Great Britain in 1880 to mark the friendship between the two nations. The Resolute Desk remains in the Oval Office.
Bessent disputed plans for handing the gift over to Trump’s fund once he leaves office, telling the network: “Well, I think that this plane would be a gift to the American government.”
Later that morning, he also claimed in a separate interview with NBC’s Meet the Press that talks about taking receipt of the luxury jet had actually begun under the administration of former President Joe Biden, accusing mainstream media outlets of using the multi-million dollar gift to detract from Trump‘s recent visit to the Middle East.
“I think this is an offramp for many in the media not to acknowledge what an incredible trip this was,” he said. “Every stop we made, the enthusiasm in Saudi Arabia, in Qatar, in the United Arab Emirates, to invest in the United States, they want to push more and more of their funds here.”
