By Morgan Rimmer

(CNN) — Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced Tuesday he is placing a blanket hold on all Justice Department political nominees, as he seeks answers related to the Trump administration’s plans to accept a luxury jet from the Qatari royal family to use as Air Force One.

“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,” Schumer said on the Senate floor, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “This is not just naked corruption, it is also a grave national security threat.”

“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.

A blanket hold does not mean the Senate is unable to confirm these nominees, but it does force the chamber’s Republican majority to burn valuable floor time to overcome the hold. Only a simple majority vote is needed to overcome the hold.

Schumer demanded the Justice Department’s Foreign Agents Registration Act Unit “disclose all activities by Qatari foreign agents inside the US that could benefit President Trump or the Trump Organization,” and read a detailed list of questions probing the details of this jet offer. He also called on Attorney General Pam Bondi testify before the House and Senate “to explain why gifting Donald Trump a private jet does not violate the Emoluments Clause — which requires congressional approval — or any other ethics laws.”

The Democratic leader focused his questions on the national security risks of trusting a key piece of government equipment, like Air Force One, to a foreign country, and pressed on whether the Qataris could be trusted to outfit the plane.

“President Trump has told the American people that this is a ‘free jet.’ Does that mean the Qataris are delivering a ready-on-day-one plane with all the security measures already built in? If so, who installed those security measures and how do we know they were properly installed? Why would we take the risk of trusting any foreign country to do this sensitive work? If not, what security modifications would be needed to ensure a foreign-sourced Air Force One is safe to use?” he asked.

Schumer also pressed for other details, including how much it would cost taxpayers to make the necessary security adjustments for the plane, who in the administration was involved in arranging the offer, and whether there is any quid pro quo attached to what the president has called a “gift.”

“What are the parameters of this deal, and which country brought it up first — us or them? What is Qatar being offered in return?” he asked.

Schumer’s announcement come as ethics experts have raised concerns about the Trump administration’s potential move and questioned whether accepting the plane will violate the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause, which prohibits a president from receiving an “emolument” or profit from any “King, Prince, or foreign state” unless Congress consents.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that the legal details on accepting the jet, which would be retrofitted and used as Air Force One, are “still being worked out.”

“Any donation to this government is always done in full compliance with the law,” she added.

Concern extends to GOP

While some in the president’s party have defended the move, several congressional Republicans have expressed misgivings about Trump’s plans, noting the potential for security and legal risks.

Rep. Dusty Johnson wouldn’t say whether Trump should turn down the offer, but the South Dakota Republican told CNN he “doesn’t like” the optics and said there are “some pretty legitimate questions being asked about national security and about ethics.”

“I don’t like it. There’s a reason that people can’t even buy me a steak dinner. It’s not necessarily that you can prove that I’ve got an ethical problem. It’s that the appearance of it doesn’t look great,” Johnson said.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters in the Capitol that “there are lots of issues associated with that offer, which I think need to be further talked about.” Thune said later that once the offer is “no longer a hypothetical, I can assure you there will be plenty of scrutiny of whatever that arrangement might look like.”

Sen. Lisa Murkowski said the offer raises “a lot of questions.”

“When you get something of that value from a country, one typically thinks that there’s something in it for the country that is offering it,” the Alaska Republican said.

Sen. Mike Rounds, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he has security concerns about Trump using a jet potentially gifted to the US by Qatar, comparing it to a Trojan horse.

“It seems to me that the Greeks actually had something like that happen one time a long, long time ago, and somebody happened to have brought a golden horse inside of a community,” he said, adding, “This aircraft is beautiful, and it would be great if we could accept it, but security concerns are also there.”

“I think there’s going to be more challenges to it than what it looks like to begin with,” he continued.

While Sen. Thom Tillis brushed off the larger concerns, the North Carolina lawmaker suggested there should be a cost-benefit analysis of the security paces the jet would have to go through before being considered as the president’s primary means of transportation.

“And then you got to work through the cost benefit of it, right? I mean, we’re in a world of DOGE, so we got to figure out whether it’s worth upfitting or … selling it and writing a check to the Treasury and help us with our debt reduction,” he said.

For Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, “the bigger issue is that we can build stuff in the United States, and this is a great chance to show that we can, and we got to be building America, buy America.”

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, a member of the Senate GOP leadership team, said Monday evening that Trump and the White House “need to look at the constitutionality” of the issue. “I’d be checking for bugs is what I’d be checking for,” she said.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, for his part, declined to weigh in on the administration’s plan, telling CNN earlier Tuesday: “I haven’t had a chance to even look at that yet.”

This headline and story have been updated with additional developments.

CNN’s Manu Raju, Ted Barrett and Alison Main contributed to this report.

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