“I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer.” That was President Donald Trump’s answer when reporters asked about a Boeing 747 that the Qatari royal family wants to give the United States, a plane with an estimated value of $400m (£303m).
He called it “a great gesture” and said he would be “stupid” to refuse. Not everyone agrees.
Where the plane stands
US media reported on Sunday that the administration was preparing to take the jumbo jet and refit it for temporary use as Air Force One. Trump then wrote on Truth Social that the Defense Department was getting “a gift, free of charge, of a 747 aircraft to replace the 40-year-old Air Force One, temporarily, in a very public and transparent transaction.”
Qatar itself said the reports were “inaccurate” and that negotiations were continuing.
Trump looked over the jet in Palm Beach, Florida, in February. A 2015 specification summary lists three bedrooms, a private lounge and an office. Experts told the BBC that converting it would likely take years, which could push its first use close to the end of Trump’s term.
Trump has also been unhappy with Boeing. In February he said he was “not happy with Boeing” over delays to two new Air Force One jets due directly from the manufacturer, and that the White House could “buy a plane or get a plane, or something.”
The legal objection
Some Democrats have called the arrangement “wildly illegal”. The White House denies that. Senator Adam Schiff pointed to the Constitution’s clause barring an elected official from accepting “any present… of any kind whatever” from a foreign state’s leader without congressional approval.
Frank Cogliano, a history professor at the University of Edinburgh, said the clause “was intended to prevent bribery to influence the government”. Andrew Moran, a constitutional law expert at London Metropolitan University, put it this way: “It is certainly stretching the Constitution and we have not seen a gift on this scale, or of this nature.”
Criticism has come from the right as well. Laura Loomer, a long-time Trump supporter, wrote: “This is really going to be such a stain on the admin if this is true.”
The library question
Trump says the aircraft will go to his presidential library when he leaves office and that he “wouldn’t be using it” afterward. Experts said he probably means his museum foundation. They also doubted that giving the plane to the administration first, rather than to Trump personally, would solve the constitutional problem.
Jordan Libowitz of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said any post-presidency use would cross a line. He contrasted it with Ronald Reagan’s Air Force One, which was decommissioned, never flown by Reagan again, and now sits in his library as a museum piece.
The Justice Department has reportedly drafted a memo arguing that accepting the jet is permissible. It has not been made public. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said “the legal details of that are still being worked out,” adding that any donation to the government is made in full compliance with the law.
The story broke during Trump’s four-day trip to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE. The Trump Organization, run by his sons Eric and Donald Jr., has announced golf courses and luxury villas in Qatar and the UAE, and on 30 April said it would build a Trump International Hotel & Tower in Dubai. Asked whether Trump would meet anyone from the family business on the trip, Leavitt called the suggestion “ridiculous”.
