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FLASHBACK: Dem critical of Trump's Qatari jet gift rode camel in expenses-paid 2021 trip to Gulf emirate

As Democrats attack President Donald Trump for accepting the Qatari royal family's gift of a $400 million jet to be refurbished to serve as Air Force One, photos have resurfaced of some Democratic lawmakers three years earlier enjoying an expenses-paid trip to the Gulf emirate. 

The trip, paid for by the U.S.-Qatar Business Council, involved four House Democrats and one Republican who went to Qatar in 2021. During the trip, at least two of the Democrats participated in a sightseeing excursion via camelback for them and their family members. 

While the trade group that footed the bill for the Democrat excursion is not directly tied to the Qatari royal family, it describes its work as "dedicated exclusively to enhancing the bilateral business relationship between the U.S. and Qatar."

HOUSE DEMOCRAT CALLS FOR ‘IMMEDIATE’ ETHICS PROBE OF QATARI PLANE GIFT TO TRUMP

"This you frolicking in the sand on a camel as part of your $84,621.59 trip paid for by the US-Qatar Business Council to the Four Seasons in Doha in 2021?" Republican strategist Steve Guest asked in response to criticism about Trump's jet from now-Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz. The senator accused Trump of engaging in a "pay-to-play" scheme and "selling out U.S. policy." Gallego, at the time of the trip, was a congressman representing Arizona's 7th District.

"This is pay-to-play, plain and simple," Gallego said in a post on X. "Trump isn’t making decisions based on what’s best for you – he’s selling out U.S. policy to whoever gives him the biggest jet."

"Gallego’s feaux [sic] outrage would hit hard, except, here he is, shirtless and riding camels in Qatar – all paid for by a special interest group," conservative writer John Hasson said in response to Gallego's post. 

Both Hasson and Guest's posts included a now-infamous image of Gallego, alongside Democratic California Rep. Eric Swalwell, sitting on camels – shirtless and smiling – as they participated in an excursion through the desert with their wives during their 2021 trip to Qatar funded by the U.S.-Qatar Business Council. 

At the time, Swalwell was a prominent member of the House Intelligence Committee, which he was later removed from after it was discovered he allegedly had a romantic tryst with a Chinese Communist Party spy, among other concerns related to his judgment on national security. 

TRUMP DUBS DEMS 'OUT OF CONTROL,' SUGGESTS GOP CONSIDER KICKING THEM OUT OF CONGRESS FOR 'REAL CRIMES'

Following backlash over their trip to Qatar in 2021, the U.S.-Qatar Business Council told the New York Post that it did not pay for the camel excursion, only "costs directly associated with travel and the working agenda of the trip." 

The trip cost roughly $85,000, according to congressional database Legistorm, which noted that the total cost amounted to more than half of the entire congressional travel expenses accounted for in 2021. 

In addition to Swalwell and Gallego, Reps. Lou Correa, D-Calif., Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., and Lisa McClain, R-Mich., were part of the American delegation on the trip.

In response to the criticism from Republicans over his alleged hypocrisy, a spokesperson for Gallego shot back at the notion that the 2021 trip was anywhere near the same as Trump's acceptance of the roughly $400 million plane from the Qatari royal family. 

"If you think traveling on a bipartisan congressional delegation and visiting U.S. troops is the same as corruptly accepting a $400 million plane, then I have beachfront property in Arizona to sell you," Gallego communications director Jacques Petit told Fox News Digital.

Fox News Digital reached out to Swalwell's office for comment as well, but did not hear back.

BYRON DONALDS LEADS BIPARTISAN EFFORT TO PUNISH FEDERAL WORKERS FOR FAILURE TO REPORT FOREIGN GIFTS

Trump shot back at criticisms over his planned acceptance of the Qatari gift, which the administration was given to use in place of Air Force One. Trump has been pushing to upgrade Air Force One, but the process that was initiated in 2018 has repeatedly been delayed.

"The fact that the Defense Department is getting a GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE, of a 747 aircraft to replace the 40 year old Air Force One, temporarily, in a very public and transparent transaction, so bothers the Crooked Democrats that they insist we pay, TOP DOLLAR, for the plane," Trump said in a Truth Social post published Sunday. "Anybody can do that! The Dems are World Class Losers!!! MAGA"

Jasmine Crockett roasted for worrying about effect of deportation on other countries

Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, is being torched online after she expressed sympathy for countries that may be affected by mass deportations from the U.S. after she remained largely silent on millions of migrants pouring into the U.S. under the Biden administration.

Crockett, a first-term progressive who has made headlines for several controversial comments this year, appeared unaware of the apparent double standard, which drew criticism from conservative accounts and commentators and Republican lawmakers.  

"As far as I'm concerned, you randomly kidnapping folk and you throwing them out of the country against their civil rights, against their constitutional rights," Crockett said in a video posted to her Instagram page, which as 1.3 million followers. "And, frankly, how would they feel if some other country decided that they were gonna just start throwing people randomly in our country? Like that is absolutely insane."

SOCIAL MEDIA ERUPTS OVER JASMINE CROCKETT 'GASLIGHTING' ABOUT CALLING ABBOTT 'GOVERNOR HOT WHEELS'

In the video, Crockett decries Republicans who had just voted down an amendment to a massive budget bill being hammered out by lawmakers that is aimed at clarifying that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) cannot detain or deport U.S. citizens under any circumstances.

The Republicans' actions incensed Crockett, who cited a case last week when a U.S. citizen child was deported with her noncitizen mother. Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said the child and her siblings were deported because their mothers are not citizens and wanted to take them with them back to Honduras.

Crockett made the comments alongside Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., who also panned Republicans. 

"Literally they just voted, they being the other ones, not us because we were all on the right side of history," Crockett said. "They just voted to give Trump the legal ability to deport U.S. citizens. That is what they voted for. A bunch of elected U.S. representatives, that is how they voted, Am I telling a lie Eric or not?"

Part of the clip was posted to the popular conservative account "End Wokeness."

"Other countries have been ‘just throwing people randomly’ into our country for decades, Rep. Crockett," Rep. Mark Harris, R-N.C., wrote in a comment.

"Hahaha. She is literally one never-ending campaign ad," wrote Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, R-Ga. 

REP. JASMINE CROCKETT SAYS DEMOCRATS NEED TO BE 'OK WITH PUNCHING' IN RACES AGAINST TED CRUZ, REPUBLICANS

As part of their big tax bill, Republicans in Congress are pumping billions of dollars into President Donald Trump’s mass deportation and border security plan with nearly 20,000 new officers, $1,000 fees for migrants seeking asylum and $46.5 billion for a long-sought border wall.

Overall, the plan is to remove 1 million immigrants annually and house 100,000 people in detention centers.

Trump previously floated the idea of deporting violent criminal U.S. citizens to an El Salvador prison where many criminal migrants have already been sent during his second term.

It’s not the first time Crockett’s comments have been criticized.

In March, she called her fellow Texan, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who uses a wheelchair, "Governor Hot Wheels." The Democrat claimed her words were misunderstood.

Crockett continues her viral media streak with incendiary comments aimed at those on the other side of the aisle, including saying DOGE head Elon Musk should be "taken down" and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, should be "knocked over the head, like, hard."

Fox News' Rachel del Guidice, Elizabeth Elkind and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Government data torpedoes Swalwell's viral claim about plane crashes on Trump's watch: 'Habitual liar'

27 February 2025 at 11:24

Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., claimed earlier this month that "no president" has presided over more plane crashes during his first month in office than President Trump. But data obtained by Fox News Digital shows there were more plane crashes during that same time period under President Biden. 

"No president has had more planes crash in their first month in office than Donald Trump," Swalwell posted on X Feb. 17, a comment viewed over 7 million times on X. 

Department of Transportation data provided by a senior administration official contradicts that data and shows more plane crashes during the first few weeks of President Biden’s term.

Swalwell had posted in response to a small plane crash in Georgia that left two dead.  

GOP REP REVEALS AFTER F-16 RIDE WHY TRUMP'S LEADERSHIP IS ALREADY PAYING OFF FOR MILITARY

There were 55 aviation accidents in the United States between Biden’s inauguration Jan. 21, 2021, and February 17, 2021, compared to 35 during the same period for Trump.

Worldwide there were 91 aviation accidents during that same time period for Biden and 50 during Trump’s first few weeks. 

"Eric Swalwell is a habitual liar and fraud, who continues to beclown himself every single day because he suffers from a debilitating and severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome that has rotted his brain," White House communications director Steven Cheung told Fox News Digital. 

GOP GOVERNOR IN TOP ENERGY STATE OUTLINES HOW PRODUCTION 'HELD BACK' BY BIDEN WILL 'OPEN UP' UNDER TRUMP

"As an elected official, he should actually tell the truth for once, but it’s understandable he’s incapable of that since he has Fang Fang on his mind all day."

Swalwell told Fox News Digital in a statement he was referring to commercial airliners, although his initial post stated "planes."

"There have been two U.S. commercial airliner crashes, where people died or were seriously injured in Trump’s first month," Swalwell said. "Please show me a president who had more in their first month."

Several Democrats have blamed Trump for high-profile plane crashes in recent weeks, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who suggested Trump's cuts to the FAA were to blame in the Toronto crash, which resulted in serious injuries but no deaths. 

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt pushed back at the time, pointing out that the "crash unfortunately took place in Canadian airspace with Canadian air-traffic controllers overseeing it."  

She then disputed the Democratic attack line about Trump firing FAA officials. 

"And the facts about the FAA are that no air-traffic controllers have been let go by Secretary Duffy or this new administration. In fact, Secretary Duffy has put great emphasis on hiring the best and the brightest air-traffic controllers who want to be part of the FAA," she argued.

Fox News Digital's Gabriel Hays contributed to this report

Swalwell slammed on social media for questioning how Trump will lower grocery prices

8 January 2025 at 13:22

Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., sparked online backlash with a post in which he questioned President-elect Trump’s ability to bring down grocery prices. Social media users were quick to point out that food prices spiked under President Biden's leadership.

"I don’t care if Donald Trump wants to buy Greenland. I just want to know what he’s going to do to lower the cost of groceries," Rep. Swalwell wrote on X.

MAGAFEST DESTINY? TRUMP FLEXES HIS MUSCLES WITH REPEATED TALK OF AMERICAN EXPANSIONISM

But social media users noted that the congressman’s party had control of the House, Senate and White House while Americans struggled to afford food. While they later lost control of the House after the 2022 midterm elections, the Democrats held on to the Senate.

3 WAYS TRUMP CAN DELIVER AN ECONOMIC 'GOLDEN AGE' FOR AMERICA

Swalwell later appeared to double down on his assertion that Trump will not lower grocery prices.

"Guys, it’s so obvious. Trump has no idea how to lower your cost of groceries. So he’s going to distract you by sending your kids to die fighting Canada," Swalwell tweeted.

However, this only brought more fury the congressman’s way, with social media users questioning why the congressman is not more worried about the fires raging in his state that has so far left two dead and forced thousands to flee their homes.

AMERICANS FORCED TO LEAVE EVERYTHING BEHIND TO ESCAPE DEADLY WILDFIRES NOW FACING NEW THREAT

On Tuesday, President Biden released a statement on the deadly wildfires and announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had approved a grant to help fight the inferno.

"I am being frequently briefed on the wildfires in west Los Angeles. My team and I are in touch with state and local officials, and I have offered any federal assistance that is needed to help suppress the terrible Pacific Palisades fire," Biden said in a statement.

The Trump team has not responded to a request for comment.

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