The Qatari royal family is rumoured to be willing gift the US President exclusive access to the 747 – dubbed a ‘Palace in the Sky’ – for the duration of his presidency, before been formally handed over to the Donald Trump Presidential Library, towards the end of his second term.
Currently, the President of the United States, uses one of two Boeing VC-25 (the military version of the B747) to travel both inside the United States, and abroad. Both aircraft have been in service since August 1990, and there have been plans to develop a successor over recent years, especially as the last civilian B747 in the USA was in 2017.
During a Press Conference, Donald Trump said in a statement:
“They knew about it because they buy Boeings, they buy a lot of Boeings, and they knew about it, and they said, we would like to do something. And if we can get a 747 as a contribution to our Defence Department to use during a couple of years while they’re building the other ones, I think that was a very nice gesture. Now I could be a stupid person and say, oh no, we don’t want a free plane.”
Dismay from Across the Aisle
If the gift does take place, then it will mark the biggest single gift a sitting president has ever received – with the aircraft been valued at around $400 million.
As such, there has been considerable push back from opponents of the President, with a number of Democrats voicing concerns of bribery and corruption in the deal
On X, Jamie Raskin, Democratic Congressman for Maryland, wrote:
“Trump must seek Congress’ consent to take this $300m from Qatar. The Constitution is perfectly clear: no present of any kind whatever’ from a foreign state without Congressional permission. A gift you use for four years and then deposit in your library is still a gift (and a grift).”
However, the White House has announced that the gift would have ’legally permissible ’ ad been no different from other gifts, any other president had received in the past.
For their part, the Qatari Government has appeared to attempt to distance themselves from any announcement, calling them ‘premature’.
In a statement, Ali Al-Ansari, Qatari attache to the US, said:
“The possible transfer of an aircraft for temporary use as Air Force One is currently under consideration between Qatar’s Ministry of Defence and the U.S. Department of Defence, but the matter remains under review by the respective legal departments, and no decision has been made.”
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