Chris Murphy says Trump strategically visited Gulf states ā€˜willing to pay him off’ as backlash rises against luxury offer

Donald Trump’s acceptance of a $400m Boeing jet from Qatar is the ā€œdefinition of corruptionā€, a leading Democrat said on Sunday, as several senior Republicans joined in a bipartisan fusillade of criticism and concern over the luxury gift.

Chris Murphy, a Democratic senator for Connecticut, condemned the ā€œflying griftā€ on NBC’s Meet the Press as he assailed the president’s trip to several Gulf states this week that included a stop in Qatar.

ā€œWhy did he choose these three countries for his first major foreign trip? It’s not because these are our most important allies or the most important countries in the world,ā€ he said of Trump’s visit to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.