President Donald Trump on Wednesday said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has ‘lost his confidence’ and suggested that ‘there’s something wrong’ with the New York Democrat.
Trump made the remarks while traveling to Qatar for the second leg of his Middle East trip when reporters aboard Air Force One asked about Schumer’s threats to block the president’s Justice Department political appointees until the senator gets answers about a jumbo jet gift from Qatar’s royal family.
‘Schumer is Schumer,’ Trump said. ‘You know, he’s become a Palestinian. Something wrong with him? I don’t know, I’ve known him a long time and there’s something wrong. He’s lost his confidence, totally. And there’s something wrong with him. I don’t know what it is with Schumer.’
Schumer called the Qatari gift a ‘grave national security threat’ on the Senate floor on Tuesday.
‘News of the Qatari government gifting Donald Trump a $400 million private jet to use as Air Force One is so corrupt that even Putin would give a double take. This is not just naked corruption, it is also a grave national security threat,’ the top Democrat said.
‘So, in light of the deeply troubling news of a possible Qatari-funded Air Force One, and the reports that the Attorney General personally signed off on this clearly unethical deal, I am announcing a hold on all DOJ political nominees, until we get more answers,’ he added.
Trump has defended the U.S. preparing to accept a jumbo jet gift from Qatar’s royal family to serve as a temporary Air Force One as Boeing failed to roll out a new Air Force One fleet in a timely manner.
‘We’re very disappointed that it’s taking Boeing so long to build a new Air Force One,’ Trump said Monday morning. ‘You know, we have an Air Force One that’s 40 years old. And if you take a look at that, compared to the new plane of the equivalent, you know, stature at the time, it’s not even the same ballgame.’
Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman contributed to this report.