Vice President JD Vance is shutting down the information a couple of Qatari Air Drive facility being inbuilt Idaho — regardless of Secretary of Protection Pete Hegseth making the announcement simply two days prior.
Hegseth’s announcement ignited a whirlwind of backlash amongst many factions, together with from Trump’s MAGA base supporters.
Whereas showing Sunday morning on Fox Information’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” host Maria Bartiromo requested Vance concerning the facility, questioning what Qatar is planning to develop in Idaho. Vance known as Hegseth’s announcement a “faux story.”
“Yeah, I noticed some reporting about this, Maria. I really talked to the Secretary of Warfare, Pete Hegseth, this morning,” Vance said. “That is largely a faux story. We proceed to have with international locations that we work with, we have now relationships the place generally their pilots work on our bases, generally that we practice collectively, generally we work collectively in different methods.”
Vance went on responsible “misreporting” for the confusion over the so-called facility.
“The reporting that by some means there’s going to be a Qatari base on United States soil, that’s simply not true,” he defined. “We’re persevering with to work with quite a few our Arab buddies to make sure that we’re capable of implement this peace, however we’re not going to let a overseas nation have an precise base on American soil.”
Vance added: “So there’s a little bit of misreporting on that, as there typically is, as you realize, Maria.”
Hegseth made the announcement concerning the facility throughout a gathering with the Qatari protection minister, Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, on the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, on Oct. 10.
“I’m additionally proud that at this time we’re saying we’re signing a letter of acceptance to construct a Qatari Emeri Air Drive facility on the Mountain Residence Airbase in Idaho,” Hegseth said. “The situation will host a contingent of Qatari F-15s and pilots.”
Hegseth added on the time that the ability will “improve our mixed coaching, improve lethality” and “interoperability” between nations.
Later that day, Hegseth made an “important clarification” about his assertion in an X post.
“The U.S. army has a long-standing partnership w/ Qatar, together with at this time’s introduced cooperation w/ F-15QA plane,” he wrote. “Nevertheless, to be clear, Qatar is not going to have their very own base in the US—nor something like a base. We management the present base, like we do with all companions.”
In the meantime, conservative political activist and staunch Trump ally, Laura Loomer, complained concerning the facility in a collection of X posts, calling it “an abomination.”
“WTF IS AMERICA FIRST ABOUT ALLOWING QATAR TO HAVE A MILITARY BASE ON US SOIL? That is an abomination. A lot for ‘Make America Protected Once more,’” she wrote Friday, referencing Trump’s “America First” agenda.
Loomer added: “By letting funders of HAMAS and the Muslim Brotherhood have a army base on US soil. Un fucking plausible. Simply unbelievable.”
Steve Bannon, who served as White Home chief strategist throughout Trump’s first time period, additionally argued to Newsweek that there “ought to by no means be a army base of a overseas energy on the sacred soil of America.”
