US Senate permits arms sales to Qatar UAE amidst controversy over jet gifted to Trump

Arms sales to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have been given the go-ahead after a Democratic Party-led effort to halt them failed in a US Senate vote on Wednesday.

The resolutions failed 39-56, allowing the deal to proceed.

Democrats had introduced legislation in the Republican-controlled Senate to block weapons sales to the two Gulf states over allegations of corruption.

Lawmakers alleged that the Pentagon’s acceptance of a $400m Qatari jet and an Emirati firm's recent investment in a Trump-affiliated cryptocurrency had compromised the integrity of the sales.

The resolutions sought to stymie a $1.9bn weapons sale to Qatar and a $1.3bn weapons sale to the UAE.

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The Qatar sale consisted of eight MQ-9 Reaper drones, a model previously employed by the US in Gaza and Yemen, along with Hellfire II missiles and 227-kg bombs.

The second resolution opposed the sale of six Chinook helicopters to the UAE.

Arms sales to the UAE have previously faced criticism over the UAE’s support for the Rapid Support Forces, a Sudanese faction accused by some, including the US State Department, of committing acts of genocide.

Corruption accusations

Democrats say the weapons sales are tainted with corruption.

Qatar recently gifted the Pentagon a $400m jet, which will be refurbished to serve as Air Force One before being retired to US President Donald Trump’s presidential library.

The jet had become the centre of political controversy after Democrats likened the gift to a bribe.

Additionally, last month, an Emirati firm invested $2bn in a Trump-affiliated cryptocurrency.

Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, who backed the resolution opposing the arms sales, alleged that these deals compromised the integrity of the sales.

“My case is that so long as the relationship is corrupted by the gifts to Trump, we can’t move forward on these arms sales… there are legitimate underlying policy debates on the two sales, but my case here is you should look beyond the merits of the sale and really focus on the corruption,” Murphy stated earlier this week.

The resolutions to block the arms sales failed, however, with five Democrats joining Republicans to support the sales.

Senate Republicans dismissed the resolutions as political theatre, with Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair Jim Risch saying they “make arms sales to some of our closest allies in the Middle East about partisan politics”.

Republican Senator Rand Paul voted "present" on the resolutions.

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