News - September 24, 2025 - by Ray Hagar

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 In May, the Trump administration received a luxury Boeing 747-8 jet from the government of Qatar, valued at around $400 million.

It could, however, cost up to $1 billion to refit and retool the jet to bring it up to the standard of a secure presidential Air Force One, according to published reports.

Some in Congress have raised ethical concerns, saying that taking the jet as a gift violates the Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which bars government officials from accepting gifts from foreign states without congressional consent.

"Well, nobody asked my opinion on the ins and outs before they did that sort of thing," Nevada's 2nd U.S. House District Rep. Mark Amodei said.

Amodei did not endorse Trump's decision to take the jet.

"That might have been one of the areas where if you were given a do over, maybe the (Trump) administration ought to take a do over," he said. "But it's pretty clear. I don't think that's the way they're headed."

Amodei noted Trump has about 3-1/2 years remaining in his term of office. He questioned if the jet could be securely retrofitted before Trump is scheduled to leave office.

No town halls: The few members of Congress who have held town hall meetings with constituents this year have faced some angry crowds.

No town halls: Republicans have taken heat for Trump's agenda while Democrats have been criticized for not doing enough to push back against Trump.

Amodei said he will not hold any official town hall meetings this year, repeating his earlier stance.

Amodei's office in Reno has been picketed for not holding the meetings at least twice this year but that has not swayed his thinking.

"The town halls have become completely weaponized, in my experience," he said.

The meetings are supposed to be "one of those things where you go to get input from people on what issues are," he said.

Yet the meetings now have morphed into something ugly, he said.

"You don't come to get yelled at, you don't come to get talking pointed. You don't come to get 'gotcha-ed' and all that stuff.

"But that's what they become," Amodei continued. "So I've said from the beginning ... I'm not going to do one."

Amodei recalled that in 2017, he and then-U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nv., held a town hall meeting in Reno.

It turned angry, loud and crowded. People were bussed in from California to raise hell, Amodei said. People yelled their questions at Amodei and Heller. When they answered, they were booed and shouted down.

"So hey, they get plenty of chances to yell at me in the normal course of stuff without me doing a formal one (town hall meeting)," Amodei said. "We're as accessible as people are in terms of we'll do impromptu town halls
at Home Depot, in the in the grocery store, where ever.

"So if it's about accessibility, with all due respect, I don't travel around with an entourage or anything like that, but I'm not doing a formal town hall to get yelled at," he said.

Amodei already gets critical feedback from those constituents who don't agree with him.

"We take plenty of input from people who are not fans," Amodei said. "So I'm not feeling like we're insulated in any way, shape or form."

Editor's note: The first part of original story about the interview with Rep. Amodei was deleted because it confused Amodei's position about the pending government shutdown. The interview with Amodei was done on Sept. 10 and the story was not written until about two weeks later.

Carrie Kwarcinski, Rep. Amodei's Communications Director, wrote to us, in part saying:

"The Congressman’s comments reflected his position a few weeks ago, when he believed Congress would be able to pass a CR. As you know, a lot can change quickly in just a matter of weeks if not days and hours, and we’d appreciate it if the article could be updated to reflect that context."

Since the time element could not be corrected or changed, we chose to delete that part of the story.

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