Vice President J.D. Vance attributed last week’s uproar among some MAGA-aligned Republicans to inaccurate reporting rather than any misleading statements from the Pentagon regarding a new Qatari training facility in Idaho.
The controversy began after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the U.S. would “sign a letter of acceptance to build a Qatar Emiri Air Force facility at the Mountain Home Airbase in Idaho,” where Qatari F-15 pilots and aircraft are expected to train. Hegseth’s phrasing led some to believe the Trump administration had approved the establishment of a foreign military base on U.S. soil, prompting backlash from several conservative commentators.
Qatar’s media attaché to the United States later clarified that the Gulf nation was not constructing a separate base, but rather funding and maintaining a training center within the existing U.S. airbase. The facility, part of a 10-year defense partnership, would be used jointly by American and Qatari forces for pilot training and operational collaboration.
Appearing on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” Vance dismissed the controversy as overblown. “This is largely a fake story,” he said. “The United States works with many allied nations where their pilots train on our bases or alongside our personnel. The idea that there will be a stand-alone Qatari base on American soil is simply untrue.”
Vance emphasized that no foreign country would ever be granted control of an independent military base within the United States. “There’s been some misreporting on this, as there often is,” he said, underscoring that the partnership is standard practice for U.S. defense cooperation.
The initial outrage came from several right-wing activists and commentators, including Trump ally Laura Loomer, who said she felt “betrayed” by what she believed was a concession to a foreign government. The clarification from both U.S. and Qatari officials appears to have cooled tensions, though the incident highlighted how quickly misinformation can spread within political circles online.