Trump criticises Qatar over 'high-level sponsorship of terrorism' in resurfaced clip from 2017

A clip has resurfaced of Donald Trump criticising Qatar amid the controversy over the US president's decision to accept a $400 million jet from Qatari royals as a “gift”.

The video is from Trump's first term in office back in 2017, where he accused Qatar of being a "high-level" sponsor of terrorism in a speech to reporters at the White House, which was reported on at the time.

"The nation of Qatar, unfortunately, has been historically been a funder of terrorism at a very high level," Trump claimed in his speech.

"In the wake of that conference, nations came together and spoke to me about confronting Qatar over its behaviour. So we had a decision to make, do we take the easy road or do we finally take a hard but necessary action? We have to stop the funding of terrorism."

He added: "I decided... along with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, our great generals and military people, the time had come to call on Qatar to end its funding, they have to end that funding ."

This resurfaced video, reshared on X, formerly Twitter, by Call To Activism, comes after Trump confirmed he was planning to accept a luxury Boeing 747-8 aircraft from the Qatari royal family, which will be used as Air Force One (the phrase used to denote the primary presidential aircraft).

It's a move that has been highly criticised on both sides of the political spectrum, among conservatives such as Ben Shapiro, as well as far-right MAGA activist Laura Loomer.

Near the end of Trump's time in office, the plane will be transferred to his presidential library, and he will keep the aircraft for himself, as per ABC News.

Meanwhile, Trump is currently on a four-day trip to the Middle East, where he will visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Elsewhere, Ben Shapiro slams Trump’s ‘bad’ decision to accept $400m plane from Qatar as new Air Force One, and reaction as Trump defends proposed $400m 'gift' from Qatari royals.

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