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Trump Announces $200B Boeing Deal with Qatar; Trump Defends Qatar Airplane Gift Amid Mounting Criticism; Trump in Doha Amid Plans to Accept Qatari Luxury Jet; Republicans Divided on Medicaid Changes in Spending Bill; Trump Defends Accepting Super-Luxury Jet from Qatar. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired May 14, 2025 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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MANU RAJU, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: Today in "Inside Politics", camels, horses and Teslas are mine. President Trump is basking in the opulence of the Middle East while closing up to the Qatari government that plans to gift him a luxury jet. Is he really going to go home with a new plane?

Plus, I'll talk to a conservative Republican Senator who says cutting Medicaid is, quote, politically suicidal, but will the House GOP heed his warning? Josh Hawley is my guest this hour. And Joe Biden totally effed us. That quote from a top hero's campaign official sums up so much of the anger within the Democratic Party as a new book from CNN's Jake Tapper on acts, just as Alex Thompson reveals new details about the former president's decline while running for a second term.

I'm Manu Raju in for Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines and "Inside Politics". We start in Qatar, where President Trump is signing a $200 billion deal and catching up with old friends. President Trump, it comes on the heels of another extravagant day for the president. He was welcomed to Doha with a display of camels.

It even read Tesla cyber trucks as a huge fan of stage craft and luxury. President Trump was in his element and shelled out lots of praise for Qatar's Emir, who has offered him to give him a jet to use as Air Force One.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: This is an outstanding man. He's a great man, and we're going to help each other. I just want to thank you for the friendship. For the long time, friendship, and again, long before any of this stuff, we just liked each other.

That's not a bad thing. That's a good thing. But we always had a very special relationship. And we came from Saudi Arabia, where we have another great man over there that's a friend of yours. And you two guys get along so well and like each other, you sort of remind me a little bit of each other. If you want to know the truth, they both tall, handsome guys that happen to be very smart.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: All right. CNN's Jeff Zeleny is live for us and Doha. So, Jeff, what are you learning about the president's talks with the Emir?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well Manu, the lavish welcomes continue as the president moves from the first part of his trip into the second part here in a Doha. One thing that was not mentioned at that meeting was talk that is hanging over this entire trip, that is about the plane from the Qatari family that they would like to donate, essentially give to the United States.

That has caused so much controversy, really, for four days running now. But the president, the American President, when he was traveling here at border Air Force One, he had sharp words to say about Senator Chuck Schumer, who has vowed to put a block on Trump nominees over this plain deal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: 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 it's just something wrong with him. I don't know what it is with Schumer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: So, saying there's something wrong with him not really addressing the substance of the matter, which, as you well know, Manu, has been coming in from Republicans as well as Democrats, even Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who, of course, is a close Trump friend and ally, saying it's not a good idea to accept this type of plane.

So, the president clearly was up overnight talking about this on social media, trying to push back against the criticism that's been coming from all fronts here. Again, this has not been discussed by the president, who will be heading to a state dinner later, but it certainly is on the minds of people, an open question is, will the Qataris go forward with this plan?

The president has talked about it being a free airplane, a gift to taxpayers, if you will. But of course, the reality is, it's anything but that, as we've been reporting all week, the airplane has to be stripped down, essentially rebuilt for security and other matters. So, an unscripted decision, at least right before this, or revelation, I should say before this trip still hangs over it.

But the president, for his part, is touting that Boeing deal getting some 160 new airplanes to the Boeing Company. Of course, he's been angry at Boeing because they've been slow, in his view, to refurbish the old Air Force One. So, a lot of plain talk on this. This the overseas trip here of the president, Manu, but the comments from Senator Schumer certainly interesting. How they reverberate on Capitol Hill, Manu. RAJU: No question about a lot of discussion. We'll talk more about

that here in just a moment. Jeff Zeleny, live for us from Doha. Thank you so much. And I'm joined by a terrific group of reporters here at the table, CNN's Kristen Holmes, Hans Nichols of "AXIOS" and CNN's Bloomberg, Nia-Malika Henderson, nice to see you all.

Kristen, you cover the White House. Talk about the president's trip. This is just some of the headlines of some of the announcements so far as you can see on your screen, he says that Qatar will purchase a 160 Boeing jets.

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Trump -- Jeff just talked about that in his $200 billion deal. U.S. will have sanctions on Syria. There's a $600 billion commitment from Saudi Arabia to invest in the U.S. A Saudi economic deal includes a new $142 billion defense partnership. There's a lot of optics too in this, perhaps more so than the deal, right --

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I mean, well, the optics have been quite something, right? I mean, watching the carpets actually be rolled out, Donald Trump seems to be having the time of his life. I mean, the lot of the pomp and circumstances just exactly what he loves.

Now, this is what we had reported he wanted out of this trip was one the pomp and circumstance, but also to this idea that he was going there to negotiate on behalf of America, to get these countries that have a lot of money to invest and make announcements that they were going to invest in America.

The one thing I will say that was interesting is they have brought up the Abraham Accords twice now in terms of both Syria and Saudi Arabia, only to kind of walk it back, saying, we want you to do that. But also, we know that you probably can't. We know that this has been the back of their minds as they went overseas. But again, what he really wanted to do here was put on a show, and he certainly has.

RAJU: And the Syria decision was significant. I mean, this is sanctions that we on the country for so many years, and now he says that, essentially, he's lifting these sanctions and praising the new Syrian leader.

HANS NICHOLS, POLITICAL REPORTER OF AXIOS: And met with the leader, right? I mean, this is the unorthodox aspect of Trump's presidency that's sometimes hard to react to in real time, but just taking a step back, yes, it's his -- He obviously went to the Vatican, but his first big trip, there's symbolism there.

He's going to the Middle East. He also, unlike his first term, he's not making a stop on Israel. Yes, right? And I think that tells us something. All the talk about the Abraham Accords the importance of that there isn't this close kind of standing together, and this visit to Israel that sometimes almost seems as those required.

And I think that's something that's new on all this. But you know, the numbers, the planes, like this isn't that surprising at all.

HOLMES: Right.

NICHOLS: It happened eight years ago.

RAJU: Yeah.

NICHOLS: I like the moment, and we didn't quite know where there's 140 planes. It was 160 planes.

HOLMES: Yeah.

NICHOLS: And he was kind of weighing it back and forth. You know, what number he went with? He went with the higher numbers.

RAJU: Yeah.

NICHOLS: And again, we'll stop here with the aviation week. Sort of conversation here, but -- I should have read aviation week before this week.

RAJU: Yeah, no question about it. And you know, so much have been made about Trump chose to go here rather than more traditional U.S. allies. There's perhaps one reason why this what Stephen Collinson, our colleague at CNN, wrote in his article, he said it was clear that the president is right at home with rich authoritarian leaders who head nations where the line between politics and personal enrichment is blurred.

Admiration and even envy creep into Trump's voice in a region where he's far more comfortable than in the chancelleries of Old Europe.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yeah. I mean, this was like a thirst trap for Donald Trump. I mean, surrounded by gold, the camels, the red carpet, all the riches. And you've seen him try to transform the Oval Office in this way to putting the gold up there, the sort of weird trophies and over the -- on the mantle there.

And so, this is what we're seeing from this president, he, I think, in his mind, imagines that the American presidency should be like an imperial presidency should be like royalty. He should be treated that way. And of course, he should have a $400 million plane that is outfitted, probably with gold fixtures and all of the like.

And so it is, you know, sort of a culmination of a fantasy. And he said, you know, why shouldn't America's plane be like the other folks' planes when they're on the tarmac? Ours is puny. He has said, I think, in the interview with Hannity. So, you know, he is very much like a teenage boy --

RAJU: Yeah, speaking of which, the Trump and Hannity, Trump was speaking to Sean Hannity about the jet, a luxury jet, $400 million or so apparently, going to be given to use, for the Trump Administration to use, for Trump to use, maybe even go to his presidential library. It seems to be that way after Trump leaves office, for Trump's own personal use. Trump has faced some criticism on both sides of the aisle on this, but he is defending this gift.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We were talking, and he said, if I can help you, let me do that. And they had a plane, not a new plane at all, but they had a plane. And you know these planes, the plane that you're on right now is almost 40 years old. And when you land and you see Saudi Arabia, and you see UAE, and you see Qatar, and you see all these and they have these brand-new Boeing 747s, mostly.

And you see ours next to it. This is like a totally different plane. It's much smaller. It's much less impressive, as impressive as it is. And you know, with the United States of America, I believe that we should have the most impressive plane.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: I believe we should have the most impressive plane. You know, the one thing that we're not hearing from Trump is what I'm hearing from Republicans and Democrats like. But Republicans too on the Hill is a national security concern about this --

HOLMES: So, there's several levels of national security concern here.

HENDERSON: Yeah.

HOLMES: One there is the idea if it is outfitted with bugs, if there's any way that the government can spy on the plane.

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But then there's also this level of almost exactly what he said, which is what people are concerned about. You know, they see saying that Qataris came to him and said, if we can help you, let us. I mean, that's exactly what people are afraid of, because it means, what are we getting in return?

What are they going to get in return, which he seems to fundamentally not either want to answer or not really understand the level that people are concerned about this as a national security threat, when he continues to just say, well, it's a free gift.

RAJU: Yeah.

HOLMES: You can hear these Republicans say over and over again, there's no such thing as a free gift. I mean, that's been the Republican argument as well.

RAJU: Yeah. And the Republicans, John Thune, I asked him about this yesterday, but national security concerns. He said, well, we're going to have to vet this. And he called it a hypothetical situation. And then I asked Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House, about it yesterday. He said, well, Trump, well, Trump, of course, shares the same national security concerns that we do, and he'll make sure this is a secure exchange. NICHOLS: Well, look, stripping down the plane and making sure there

are any hidden microphones on there. I -- as someone who's never retrofitted a 747, that doesn't seem --

RAJU: Not yet.

NICHOLS: Yeah -- The day is young. That doesn't seem like the biggest challenge here.

RAJU: Not yet.

NICHOLS: To me, the bigger question is, will Thune and Johnson follow through and do real oversight, you know, Ted Cruz, Chairman of the, you know, Senate Commerce Committee, does he look into this like these are going like --

HENDERSON: I'm guessing no.

NICHOLS: Yeah -- I think we sort of know, but that's really where, if this story advances beyond sort of liberal outrage in some sort of Republican concerns, that's really what will happen. It will happen where you and I spend most of our days on Congress, and I'm not convinced that we're going to have big hearings looking into this as long as Republicans, here's my caveat. As long as Republicans are in charge, that's my parachute.

HENDERSON: Yeah. It also sort of makes Donald Trump look like the beta, right? And the country we're going across the world because we're too poor to get a plane from somebody else. I mean, this is Trump, who's like, we're a superpower, and yet we're taking handouts from Qatar and authoritarian nations.

So that, in and of itself, just sort of the optics of it is really, I think, contradicting what Trump sort of idea of America is, and the himself is, like the great salesman in bringing America back to greatness. Well, if our greatness is relying on another country's largest it seems to be --

RAJU: Yeah, but he's just going to say he's getting a good deal, right --

NICHOLS: Yeah. He's already said that, right? I mean --

HOLMES: -- the opposite that he's getting the deal because he's the alpha and they want --

HENDERSON: But also, he's no deal because it's going to take millions or billions to retrofit --

RAJU: And years.

HENDERSON: Years, exactly, he'll never fly this plane, most likely as president anyway --

NICHOLS: I hope he doesn't, because he's not a licensed pilot.

HENDERSON: -- It is about his post presidency.

RAJU: It is about his post presidency. And even in today, he was speaking before Gulf leaders and really relitigating the issues that he's been talking about for years, making these false claims that the election was -- stolen back in 2020.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: There was a rigged election. Biden didn't do anything, because he never did anything about anything. He had no capability. Look at all the news over there, the fake news. Look at them. That whole world, the whole world is talking about what you're doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: I mean, he's talking before leaders who don't have elections or are authoritarian regimes.

HENDERSON: -- free press.

RAJU: Or free press, and he's saying he was a rigged election in 2020.

HOLMES: Yeah. I mean, look, he just doesn't want to let it go. And I think also this plays into the entire thing that we've been talking about, which is like he feels most at home in this kind of environment. He believes that if you are the leader of a country, you should have this kind of grand reception everywhere that you go.

And I do believe he fundamentally believes that. Now, obviously, we live in a democracy, but that is you see him there trying to, again, spark up the same conversations he's having here, but also with people who probably be more sympathetic, since they themselves don't hold free elections or have free press.

RAJU: Yeah, no question about it. All right, coming up for us. I'll talk to a GOP Senator who says his party is very wrong to push cuts to Medicaid. Senator Josh Hawley joins me live, next.

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RAJU: House Republicans are moving forward with their massive bill that includes trillions of dollars in tax cuts -- pay for it. Some cuts to Medicaid, the health insurance program for low income and disabled Americans. But not all GOP lawmakers are fully on board. Republican Senator Josh Hawley, who represents Missouri, a state where roughly one in five people are on Medicaid.

He wrote "The New York Times" op-ed this week with a very simple message, don't cut Medicaid. Senator Hawley joins me live now from Capitol Hill. Senator Hawley, thank you so much for being with me this afternoon. So, as we just showed you, you were warning you are warning your party not to cut Medicaid.

The speaker, though he just said this about the house, go peas, so called big, beautiful bill. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will you cut Medicaid?

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): We're not cutting Medicaid --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: So, he said, if you heard there, Senator Hawley said, we are not cutting Medicaid. Do you agree with the speaker? Is this bill not a cut to Medicaid?

SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): Well, the right thing to do is not to cut Medicaid. So, I'm glad to hear him say that, Manu, it ought to be just a basic foundational principle. It is wrong to cut health care for the working poor, and that's what we're talking about here with Medicaid.

My state is a Medicaid expansion state, over 20 percent of Missourians, including hundreds of thousands of children, are on Medicaid. And Manu, they're not on Medicaid because they want to be.

[12:20:00]

They're on Medicaid because they cannot afford health insurance in the private market. These are working people and their children who need health care, and it's just wrong to go and cut their health care when they're trying to make ends meet, trying to help their kids, trying to make sure that they're able to provide for their families.

So, I hope that the House GOP and the Senate GOP will get the message here. By the way, President Trump has said the same thing, no Medicaid benefit cuts.

RAJU: So, Senator Hawley, the expectation, though, is in this House GOP plan, millions could lose health insurance coverage. We're waiting for the exact numbers when the Congressional Budget Office analyzes this impact, but that is the expectation. It also some of the changes could put some rural hospitals at risk.

It also puts in place some new copay requirements for Medicaid beneficiaries. Does that concern you?

HAWLEY: Yes, both of those things concern me. Number one, I don't want to see any more rural hospitals in Missouri or anywhere else in America go out of business. We've lost too many of them in the State of Missouri, Manu. I don't like the idea of decreasing funding for rural hospitals.

I'm worried that the House bill goes way too far in that regard. I also don't like what is basically a hidden tax on working poor people who are trying to get health care. I mean, this whole idea of we're going to charge them now additional copays in order to access health care. I have to say that just sounds like a tax to me.

So now we're taxing poor people when they're trying to get access to health care. I've got big concerns about that.

RAJU: So, if this bill comes over from the House and the Senate, and you have to vote on it, are you know, if this bill does not change?

HAWLEY: Yeah. I'm not going to support this bill from the House in this forum. I think that's clear. It's got to change before it can pass the Senate. And I continue to stand by my line in the sand, which is no Medicaid benefit cuts. Listen, if you want to do work requirements, I'm all for that.

I bet every Republican and I bet most Americans would agree with that. But we're not talking here about just work requirements. The House goes much, much, much further than that. This is real. Medicaid benefit cuts. I can't support that. No Republican should support that. We're the party of the working class, Manu. We need to act like it.

RAJU: Yeah. Speaking of that, in your "New York Times" op-ed, that we just showed you wrote this about some of your GOP colleagues. You said, quote this, wing of the party wants Republicans to build our big, beautiful bill around slashing health insurance for the working poor.

Republicans need to open their eyes. Our voters support social insurance programs. More than that, our voters depend on these programs. You also point out that President Trump increased GOP support with the working class. So, do you think your GOP colleagues in Congress are too focused on making life easier for corporate America and frankly, wealthier Americans than the working class?

HAWLEY: Well, I would just say it's a mistake to listen to outlets like "The Wall Street Journal", for instance, that never met a corporate tax cut, they didn't love, never met a corporate goodie that they didn't absolutely relish. But want to tax the working class like crazy. It is a reverse class warfare, is what it is.

It's taxing the poor to give to the rich. And I'm totally opposed to that. Republicans now, thanks to Donald Trump, are the party of the working class, Manu, you referenced the returns from the last election. The big majority of working-class voters voted for the GOP. That means now the GOP needs to deliver for them, and we do that by giving them tax relief. We do that by bringing down their health care bills. We don't do it by cutting Medicaid.

RAJU: If this bill becomes law, do you -- are you concerned that Republicans could face a severe blowback in the elections next year?

HAWLEY: This bill is not going to become law in its current form, not least because President Trump won't sign it. Manu, I've talked him, about this personally multiple times. He has been crystal clear in public too. No Medicaid benefit cuts. We need to give a tax cut to working people, not raise their taxes when it comes to health care, not take away their health care benefits.

I hope this bill will get refocused on delivering relief for working families. That's what we ought to be doing.

RAJU: Do you think some of the wealthier taxpayers should pay higher taxes?

HAWLEY: I'm fine with that. You know, the president has floated that. He said, maybe we ought to allow the top rate to the very top rate for people making over a million or over $5 million a year to go back to where it was before it's like a one-point increase, Manu.

I would be fine with that, if that's what the president wants to do. Bottom line is, the focus ought to be working people. Working families were hammered under Joe Biden's presidency. Let's be honest, they cannot afford their groceries, they cannot afford their rent. They can't afford to buy a car. We need to give them tax relief. We don't need to take away their health care.

RAJU: So, Senator some other news from this week. President Trump is currently in Qatar. He says he will accept as a gift a super luxury jet from the royal family there and use it as Air Force One for the duration of his presidency. Well, then expected to be donated to his presidential library. This is what we're talking about, about a $400 million gift. Are you comfortable with that?

HAWLEY: Well, here's what I would say. I know that Qatar now wants to get close to the United States, makes sense, because we are, once again, the balance of power in the world. After four years of being laughed at under Joe Biden, people realize the U.S. is back. The U.S. is powerful, and they want to get close to us.

On the jet, though, Manu, I just say this. I think we ought to have a big, beautiful jet, but I'd like it to be made in the United States of America.

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We can build stuff in America. President Trump has been very strong on that. The U.S. government ought to be buying all of our stuff in the United States of America. That's the route I would go.

RAJU: So, should he turn down this gift if offered?

HAWLEY: I would just say, if Qatar wants to be helpful, and I think it's great that everybody now wants to be friends with America, I can think of a lot of other things Qatar could do for us, like, for example, quit harboring Islamic jihadist terrorists who are trying to kill Americans everywhere that can get their hands on them. That would probably be at the top of my list.

RAJU: But if you just say no, I mean, or do you think that he should accept it?

HAWLEY: Oh, I would say, listen, we're going to get our jets in America. We're great at building stuff. We're going to build our own stuff. But to our friends in Qatar, I would say, hey, listen, we'd love for you to help us with some things. Let's start with the Islamic terrorist problem.

RAJU: So, the Trump Organization has also recently announced real estate deals with three countries that Trump is visiting, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and UAE. President Trump has also auctioned off separately for a private dinner and White House tour to top buyers of Trump's meme coin his family, of course, make some money when the price of that goes up.

You know, Republicans were quick to accuse the Biden family of trying to profit off of his presidency. I wonder, Senator, do you have any concerns that, that could be happening here with Trump?

HAWLEY: No, and I think those two things are completely apples and oranges that you just mentioned, Manu. It wasn't just Blair accusations. It was absolute facts in terms of the Biden Administration, the Biden family profiting off of Joe Biden for years, going back to when he was a senator, going back to his time as vice president.

And it wasn't just one country. It was Ukraine, it was China, it was everywhere. It wasn't just Hunter Biden. It was the president's son. It was the president's brother rather, as well --

RAJU: But what about this meme coin? What about this meme coin? I mean, this private, this auction for people. You know that price -- when the price goes up, it helps his family?

HAWLEY: Well, listen, I think nobody believes that Donald Trump can be bought. I mean, what does Donald Trump need more money for? I think Donald Trump is pretty focused on strengthening the United States of America. I think it's great that these other countries now want to get close to America again.

I would just say, let the president go out there and do what's best for the American people's interests.

RAJU: But you don't think he's auctioning off access here the president?

HAWLEY: No, I don't. I don't see any evidence of that. And again, I mean, does anybody actually believe that Donald Trump needs more money or can be bought by money? I mean, the guy's rich. He's a billionaire. He's proud of it. He talks about it all the time. That's never been his focus, Manu.

That's never been a way to get to him. I tell you, the way to get to him is to do something for America. And that's really the focus of this trip. You see all of this investment being announced by these foreign countries in the United States of America, that's a great thing. We want more investment from overseas in our country.

We want to build things in this country again. We want manufacturing back in this country. That's the president's focus.

RAJU: All right. Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, thank you so much for joining me.

HAWLEY: Thank you.

RAJU: Really appreciate you coming on and giving you giving us your perspective. And come --

HAWLEY: Thanks for having me.

RAJU: Yeah, absolutely. Coming up, you just heard one Republican Senators take on cuts to Medicaid. So, what do the American people feel about Medicaid? We'll hear more about it next here on "Inside Politics".

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