President Donald Trump said he plans to accept a luxury aircraft from the Qatari royal family. This “gift,” which the president says he received “free of charge,” is a Boeing 747 jet and would replace the existing Air Force One.
The “very public and transparent transaction” comes ahead of Trump’s first major foreign trip to the Middle East, including Qatar, next weekend.
“I think it’s a great gesture from Qatar. I appreciate it very much. I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer. I mean, I could be a stupid person say, ‘No, we don’t want a free, very expensive airplane,’” he said during his news conference Monday morning, according to the White House press pool.
The president said Qatar knew about Boeing’s manufacturing delays. Trump has been trying to replace the more than three-decades old Boeing Air Force One planes since his first term.
Boeing was supposed to deliver new Air Force One jets in 2022. The planes have still not been delivered, and weren’t expected to be ready for several years, but CNN reported Monday Boeing said they would deliver the planes in 2027.
Whether the new planes come before the end of Trump’s second term or not, Trump’s plan to accept the gift from Qatar is raising ethical issues, including if accepting such a gift from a foreign nation is constitutional.
Behind Qatar’s gift
During the Monday press conference, the president said, “The money we spend, the maintenance we spend on those planes to keep them tippy top is astronomical, you wouldn’t even believe it.”
He added that Qatar’s gift will be handed over to his presidential library after his second term, and in the meantime he “would be using it.”
As The Washington Post reported, Qatar’s Ministry of Defense and the U.S. Defense Department are reviewing the possibility of temporarily allowing the aircraft to be used as the presidential plane.
Trump shut down a reporter for asking what the president would say to critics who consider this a personal gift.
“You should be embarrassed asking that question. They’re giving us a free jet. ... When they give you a putt, you pick it up and you walk to the next hole,” he said.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also maintained that “any gift given by a foreign government is always accepted in full compliance with all applicable laws,” as CNBC News reported.
Earlier in May, the federal government hired defense contractor L3Harris to refurbish the Qatari-owned Boeing 747. It is expected to be ready by year’s end.
Democrats question whether Qatar’s gift is constitutional
In a letter to the Government Accountability Office on Sunday, Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., expressed serious concern about Qatar’s gift to the Trump White House.
“The plane, so opulent it has been described as a ‘palace in the sky,’ is set to be made available to President Trump for official use,” he wrote, noting it’s estimated value of $400 million.
“The aerial palace would constitute the most valuable gift ever conferred on a President by a foreign government,” Torres noted.
He then pointed out the red flag: The Department of Justice approved this transaction even though it goes against the emoluments clause.
“That clause explicitly prohibits any person holding public office from accepting ‘any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State,’” Torres said.
“This ‘flying grift’ is merely the latest chapter in a tawdry tale of presidential profiteering unprecedented in American history,” he added.
Both of the existing Air Force One aircraft are modified 747-200 jumbo jets from 1990.
Trump’s itinerary of Middle East trip
Trump left the U.S. on Monday and is expected to arrive in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday. He will also make stops this week in Doha, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told CNN he expects world leaders to be very friendly toward the U.S. president.
“This is his happy place. His hosts will be generous and hospitable,” said Alterman.
“They’ll be keen to make deals. They’ll flatter him and not criticize him. And they’ll treat his family members as past and future business partners.”
At the press conference on Monday, Trump said he is considering meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Turkey on Thursday.
“I was thinking about actually flying over there,” he said, adding he “thought it would be helpful.”
He also indicated he would consider removing the U.S. sanctions on Syria, which has endured 14 years of war under a half-a-century-long dictatorship. But, as the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy stated, “the fall of (Bashar al-Assad’s) regime marked a major turning point,” a chance for this war-torn country to reclaim its future.
“We‘re going to have to make a decision on the sanctions, which we may very well relieve,” Trump said. “We may take them off of Syria because we want to give them a fresh start.”
His visit to the Middle East coincides with a critical time for the U.S.-Iran nuclear talks, and will likely include discussions of a ceasefire in Gaza between Hamas and Israel.