What does he have to give them in return?
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Alternate thread title: The Never-ending Grift
In what may be the most valuable gift ever extended to the United States from a foreign government, the Trump administration is preparing to accept a super luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet from the royal family of Qatar -- a gift that is to be available for use by President Donald Trump as the new Air Force One until shortly before he leaves office, at which time ownership of the plane will be transferred to the Trump presidential library foundation, sources familiar with the proposed arrangement told ABC News.
The gift is expected to be announced next week, when Trump visits Qatar on the first foreign trip of his second term, according to sources familiar with the plans.
Trump toured the plane, which is so opulently configured it is known as "a flying palace," while it was parked at the West Palm Beach International Airport in February.
The highly unusual -- unprecedented -- arrangement is sure to raise questions about whether it is legal for the Trump administration, and ultimately, the Trump presidential library foundation, to accept such a valuable gift from a foreign power.
Anticipating those questions, sources told ABC News that lawyers for the White House counsel's office and the Department of Justice drafted an analysis for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth concluding that is legal for the Department of Defense to accept the aircraft as a gift and later turn it over to the Trump library, and that it does not violate laws against bribery or the Constitution's prohibition (the emoluments clause) of any U.S. government official accepting gifts "from any King, Prince or foreign State."
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I just wonder if all our old expectations of presidential rectitude and prudence and decency are now off the table for any future contender.
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I just wonder if all our old expectations of presidential rectitude and prudence and decency are now off the table for any future contender.
@RealPlayer That depends upon how Vance behaves.
OMG
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Laura Loomer has found her next target: axing President Donald Trump’s acceptance of a luxury jet from the Qatari royal family.
“I’m hoping that it’s not true,” Loomer, who helped instigate the firings of six White House national security officials last month, told POLITICO.
“If the initial reports are factual, I think it’s concerning,” the hard-right activist and Trump ally said. “Qatar is not our friend.”
It didn’t take long for Trump to address the issue — and in starkly different terms than Loomer. On Monday morning, while attacking ABC as “fake news” in a press conference, he defended the idea of accepting such a gift from Qatar.
“I think it’s a great gesture from Qatar,” he said. “I appreciate it very much. I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer.”
From Politico:
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Maybe there are limits as to what behavior will be tolerated. MAGA world is imploding.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/12/media/maga-media-shapiro-loomer-levin-trump-qatar-plane-gift
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Maybe there are limits as to what behavior will be tolerated. MAGA world is imploding.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/12/media/maga-media-shapiro-loomer-levin-trump-qatar-plane-gift
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What the free plane might end up costing American taxpayers.
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Meanwhile, in Qatar, the country’s leaders have been seeking to offload two of their three Boeing 747s, each of which they purchased for $200 million and gave a VIP makeover for over $200 million more, according to Sirimanne, whom the petromonarchy contracted to help sell the jets. All that money left the planes in great shape, with just the sort of interiors that might pique the interest of Donald Trump—lots of creams, some wood, maybe not quite enough gold. In 2018, Qatar gave one of the planes—which sport two full bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms, three galleys, an office and multiple lounges—to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish president. “The second airplane was just stagnating, just waiting to be sold,” says Sirimanne. The Qataris wanted $275 million for it, he says. “I brought them two offers around $200 million each, and they turned down both.”
Then, they came up with a different, perhaps more valuable, plan. “They just decided,” says Sirimanne, “it’s better to gift it to Trump than to just do maintenance on it.”
Forbes:
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Made me think about maintenance of the aircraft after Trump leaves office, should the aircraft be accepted.
It seems the Trump Organization already has an aviation fleet that includes.a Boeing 757: https://www.trump.com/lifestyle/aviation
It will be expensive, but the Trump Organization should already have some capacity to maintain an aircraft, even if it's outsourced.
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About that 'gift'....
The Trump administration first approached Qatar to inquire about acquiring a Boeing 747 that could be used as Air Force One by President Donald Trump, four sources familiar with the discussions told CNN. That’s contrary to the narrative from the president that Qatar reached out and offered the jet as a “gift” to him.
After Trump took office in January, the Pentagon contacted Boeing and was told the company would not be able to deliver the new jets it was building to replace the aging presidential planes for another two years, the sources said.
The Trump administration, however, wanted a replacement plane much faster, and the Air Force was exploring different options for doing so. At the same time, Trump tasked his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff with finding a list of viable planes, a senior White House official told CNN.
After the Pentagon’s initial engagement with the company, Boeing provided US defense officials with a list of other Boeing clients around the world with planes that could work in the meantime, three of the sources said.
“And Qatar was one of the clients,” the second source familiar with the discussions said, adding the Pentagon “offered to buy the plane” and Qatar indicated it was willing to sell it.
The Pentagon had launched the discussions with Qatar after learning that the White House supported the idea, the third source familiar said, and Witkoff helped facilitated the initial conversations, the White House official said.
The third source recalled that the initial discussions were about leasing the plane, rather than buying it outright.
But Trump has repeatedly described the potential deal as a “gesture” or “contribution” from Qatar’s royal family. A “GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE,” he wrote on his social media site Truth Social. He said it would be a temporary replacement for Air Force One and given to his presidential library after he leaves office but denied he would fly in the plane then.
https://cnn.com/2025/05/19/politics/trump-adminstration-approached-qatar-jet
