President Donald Trump’s decision to accept a $400m Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet as a gift from Qatar’s royal family has created a furore that threatens to overshadow the first major overseas trip of his second term to the Middle East.
Trump has already visited Saudi Arabia and is in Doha on Wednesday before making an appearance in the United Arab Emirates on Thursday.
His decision to brush aside ethical concerns about accepting the plane and insistence that only a “stupid person” would decline a proposed upgrade on Air Force One has invited plenty of criticism back home.
Aviation experts cited by NBC News have meanwhile pointed out that the cost of retrofitting the plane to make it an appropriate substitute for the existing presidential transport could drive the cost up to as much as $1bn.
That is more than twice the plane’s current cost, and American taxpayers would be expected to pay the check.
Why is it controversial?
Trump’s Department of Justice lawyers have moved swiftly to rule that accepting the gift would break no laws.
Attorney General Pam Bondi and White House lawyer David Warrington said the donation of the aircraft would be “legally permissible” given that its ownership would be transferred to the Trump Presidential Library Foundation before the end of his term.
However, Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres, unconvinced by that argument, has written to the Government Accountability Office to blast the deal as a “flying grift.”
Torres argued that the present violates the emoluments clause of the U.S. Constitution, which “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.’”
Richard Briffault, a Columbia Law School professor who specializes in government ethics, has meanwhile told NPR that if Trump retains ownership of the plane after leaving office, in spite of his claim on Truth Social that it will ultimately be given to the Department of Defense, “then it’s not really a gift to the United States at all” and instead amounts to a “pretty textbook case of a violation of the emoluments clause.”
Professor Briffault further warned that accepting any present leaves the recipient beholden to the gift-giver, arguing that gestures like Qatar’s are “designed to create good feelings for the recipient and to get some kind of reciprocity.”
He noted that an American president might be expected to change policy positions or grant weapons deals in exchange. He pointed out that the situation acts as an “incentive to other countries to give similar gifts as another way of influencing presidential decision-making.”
Would it really be ‘free’?
The Qatari plane is reportedly so luxurious inside that it has been described as a “flying palace.” It has two full bathrooms, nine lavatories, a master bedroom and a guest bedroom, multiple lounges, and a private office.
However, it would take several years and require billions of dollars in further investment to ensure it meets the necessary standards to stand in for Air Force One. These standards would require secure communications, electromagnetic shielding, and in-flight refueling capabilities.
A private contractor would, in all probability, have to rip the plane apart before it was fit for use.
“This isn’t really a gift,” Rep. Joe Courtney, a top Democrat on the House Armed Services Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, told Politico.
“You’d basically have to tear the plane down to the studs and rebuild it to meet all the survivability, security, and communications requirements of Air Force One. It’s a massive undertaking – and an unfunded one at that.”
“You’re taking a 747, disassembling it, reassembling it, and then jacking it up to a very high level,” agreed Richard Aboulafia, a managing director at AeroDynamic Advisory, when the project was put to him by NBC, emphasizing the sheer scale of the undertaking.
Maintenance and operational costs are also expensive propositions when it comes to presidential planes.
According to a 2021 internal Pentagon estimate, a single Boeing VC-25 B costs more than $2.5bn, with an additional $7.7bn in projected long-term operations and support costs over 30 years.
When would it be ready to replace Air Force One?
Completing the retrofitting work before Trump leaves office in January 2028 would be “impossible,” officials told The Washington Post, somewhat defeating the point, so far as the Republican is concerned.
The U.S. also already has a pair of VC-25 Bs currently being completed to stringent military standards at home, further negating the need for the new jet. However, neither of those is expected to be ready until 2027.
What has Trump said?
Speaking to Fox News host Sean Hannity aboard Air Force One this week, Trump appeared not to understand why the gesture had provoked such outrage.
“Why wouldn’t I accept a gift?” he asked, pointing out to Hannity how “much smaller” and “much less impressive” the present presidential plane is compared to the newer model.
“The plane that you are on right now is almost 40 years old,” he griped.
“When you land and you see Saudi Arabia, and you see [the UAE], and you see Qatar, and you see all these – they have these brand new Boeing 747s mostly.
“And you see ours next to it. This is like a totally different plane. It’s much smaller, it’s much less impressive... We’re the United States of America – I believe we should have the most impressive plane.”
What has the reaction been?
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on X: “Nothing says ‘America First’ like Air Force One, brought to you by Qatar. It’s not just bribery, it’s premium foreign influence with extra legroom.”
Perhaps more surprisingly, far-right activist Laura Loomer from Trump’s own MAGA movement has also opposed the gesture, writing on the same platform: “I love President Trump. I would take a bullet for him. But, I have to call a spade a spade. We cannot accept a $400 million ‘gift’ from jihadists in suits.
“The Qataris fund the same Iranian proxies in Hamas and Hezbollah who have murdered U.S. service members. The same proxies that have worked with the Mexican cartels to get jihadists across our border.
“This is really going to be such a stain on the admin if this is true. And I say that as someone who would take a bullet for Trump. I’m so disappointed.”
Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro likewise called the decision “skeezy.”
“Taking sacks of goodies from people who support Hamas, Muslim Brotherhood, al-Jazeera, all the rest, that’s not America First,” he said.
“I think if we switch the names to Hunter Biden and Joe Biden, we’d all be freaking out on the right.”
Another Republican influencer, radio host Mark Levin, accused Qatar of having a history of spreading “anti-American” propaganda.
“Their jet and all the other things they are buying in our country does not provide them with the cover they seek,” he added.
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