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Sen. Kennedy: ‘I trust Qatar like I trust a rest stop bathroom’

A growing number of Republicans are speaking up to express concerns about the Qatari offer of a multimillion-dollar jet

Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) arrives for a Senate Republican Caucus luncheon at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on April 2, 2025.

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) said, in colorful terms, that he’s dubious of Qatar, a more aggressive tone days after he gave a noncommittal answer on whether President Donald Trump, who is in Doha, should accept a gifted Qatari luxury jet to serve as Air Force One.

“I trust Qatar like I trust a rest stop bathroom. If they want to be friendly, I want to be friendly back,” Kennedy said on Wednesday. “But with those guys, trust in God but tie up your camel.”

Days before, asked about the Qatari’s offer of luxury Boeing 747 jet worth hundreds of millions of dollars, Kennedy offered a largely noncommittal answer, telling Jewish Insider, “We ought to follow the law,” but said he hadn’t researched what the relevant law dictates.

Kennedy’s latest comments, delivered on Fox News, did not specifically pertain to the offered jet, and came in the context of the president’s visit to the country.

But they may reflect a growing willingness among some Republicans to raise concerns about the gift, after most declined to do so initially. Several Republicans, as senior as Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), urged caution about the gift on Tuesday.

Others continue to join that line, including Rep. Jeff Hurd (R-CO), who said he had “serious … security concerns, ethical concerns” about the plane and noted that “it’s a gift from a government that supports terrorist organizations like Hamas. If there were a Democratic president that was accepting a gift like this, we’d be outraged … It’s certainly something I cannot support.”

Hurd said that those concerns remain regardless of whether the gift is for Trump personally or for the Department of Defense, which has been the White House’s main pushback to critiques.

But House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is continuing to take a hands-off approach, saying at a news conference, “Other nations give us gifts all the time. I’m going to leave it to the administration, they know much more about the details of that. It’s not my lane.”

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