Here’s where Qatar is spending to increase influence in the U.S.

President Donald Trump’s decision to accept a Boeing 747 jet from Qatar to use as Air Force One has led to questions from a bipartisan list of lawmakers and commentators, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., commentator Laura Loomer and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

“Taking sacks and goodies from people who support Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, Al Jazeera, all the rest, that isn’t ‘America First,’” said conservative podcaster Ben Shapiro in an episode posted May 12.

On Wednesday, Trump signed an economic deal with Qatar that will lead to over $1 trillion in investments from the Gulf state, including in aircrafts, energy infrastructure and quantum technology.

“President Trump is securing billions in investments to revitalize American manufacturing, delivering on his promise to bring back ‘Made in America’ and usher in a new Golden Age of prosperity,” the White House said.

The president’s plane and Wednesday’s economic deal are the most recent Qatari investments in the U.S, but not the first. Qatar has long worked to gain influence in the U.S. through gifts, investments and lobbying.

Here’s a list of Doha’s investments in the United States.

Spending by Qatar in the U.S. includes:

• Higher education. In July 2019, researchers released a list of billions of dollars in donations from Qatar to American universities. Such donations are legally required to be reported by the Department of Education, but gifts from Qatar have not always been properly documented.
• Universities receiving funds from Qatar include Texas A&M, Yale, Georgetown, Cornell and Northwestern, among other universities.
• A 2023 report found that Qatar had funded projects with potential military applications at Texas A&M.
• A 2023 House of Representatives investigation found that universities were not receiving money solely from the Qatari government. Funds were also coming from Qatari state-owned NGOs, commercial entities and organizations linked to Hamas, the terrorist organization that launched the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza.
• A 2022 report found that Qatari investments are funding awards to students with pro-Palestinian backgrounds.

• Politics. Since 2016, Qatar has spent tens of millions of dollars on lobbying and public relations initiatives meant to enhance its reputation in America.
• Trump-appointed FBI Director Kash Patel consulted for Qatar, and Qatar also bought an investment from Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, for $623 million in 2023.
• Attorney General Pam Bondi lobbied Congress on behalf of Qatari interests in 2020 and 2022, earning $115,000 a month when she did.
• Qatar has donated money to campaigns for Democrats and Republicans. Such activity has often gone illegally unreported.

• Media. Qatar has carefully shaped its image in America through a combination of producing its own news as well as funding American news sources.
• Qatar owns Al Jazeera, a news network popular in the Middle East. Al Jazeera was tied to Hamas by the Israel Defense Forces, who released documentation that six Al Jazeera journalists are members of Hamas or the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
• In 2019 and 2020, a member of the Qatari royal family invested $50 million in Newsmax, a conservative news organization.
• Qatar has also been accused of funding guest commentators at CNN and columnists at The Washington Post.

• Infrastructure and business. On Wednesday, May 14, the White House announced that Qatar would invest billions of dollars in American technology and workforce development. This is the latest in a long series of Qatari investments in the U.S.
• In 2015, the Qatar Investment Authority, their sovereign wealth fund, pledged to invest $35 billion in America. In 2019, they committed $45 billion.
• Qatar has built luxury New York skyscrapers and funded medicinal and technological innovations.
• Qatar invested $3.3 billion in American hotels, tourism, information technology, manufacturing, oil, gas and financial services in 2023.
• On the flip side, the Trump family company recently announced plans to open a luxury golf resort near Doha.

Qatar’s influence stretches far into the U.S. What are they looking for?

Qatar and the United States are tightly knit together — and not just by money. Qatar is a major non-NATO ally. It also possesses the third-largest reserves of natural gas in the world. Its strategic location in the Middle East makes it a prime location for American work in the region.

Qatar has also helped the United States mediate the Israel-Hamas conflict. Nevertheless, while Qatar officially proclaims neutrality in the war, it is tied to Hamas. Key Qatari leaders have posted publicly about their support for Hamas while criticizing the United States and Israel. Three of Hamas’ top leaders — who are worth a cumulative $11 billion — also live in luxury in Qatar.

While the Gulf state is a global player, its population is less than three million, and only about 300,000 of that number are citizens.