Qatar’s Offer of Gift of Presidential Jet to Trump Encounters Turbulence in Senate

Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Tuesday promised Senate “scrutiny” of the proposed gift from the government of Qatar of a Boeing 747-8 valued at $400 million to be used as an Air Force One by President Donald Trump for the remainder of his term. 

“I don’t think there’s anything official out there. This is a hypothetical, and I’m sure that if and when there is, it’s no longer hypothetical,” Thune, R-S.D., said at a press gaggle that included The Daily Signal. 

“I can assure you there will be plenty of scrutiny of whatever that arrangement might look like,” the Senate Republican leader added. 

“There are lots of issues around that I think will attract very serious questions if and when it happens,” Thune said. 

On Sunday, the president confirmed reports that he had accepted the offer of a $400 million aircraft from the Qatari government. Boeing is currently under contract to deliver a new Air Force One, but the project has been delayed. The president characterized the Qatari gift as a result of good will between the two nations. 

“They [Qataris] said, ‘We would like to do something,’ and if we can get a 747 as a contribution to our Defense Department to use during a couple of years while they’re building the other ones, I think that was a very nice gesture,” the president said.

Qatar is home to the largest U.S. military base in the Middle East, just southwest of the country’s capital of Doha.

Trump appeared wary of allegations of impropriety in accepting the generosity of the Qatari government. 

“So, I think it’s a great gesture from Qatar. I appreciate it very much. I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer. I could be a stupid person and say, ‘No we don’t want a free, very expensive airplane,’ but I thought it was a great gesture,” he said.

The president emphasized that he would not be using the plane once his term of office is over in January 2029. 

“It would go directly to the library after I leave office,” Trump explained. “I wouldn’t be using it.”

The president suggested that the plane would be decommissioned and sent to his presidential library in much the same fashion that a Boeing 707 used by President Ronald Reagan is on display at his presidential memorial and archives in Simi Valley, California.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he will be placing holds on all Justice Department appointees until questions about the deal are answered.

“This just isn’t maybe corruption. It’s also a national security threat. Donald Trump isn’t just blurring the lines between public service and personal profit. He’s erasing it,” Schumer told The Daily Signal and other members of the media on Tuesday. 

“I don’t think it looks good or smells good,” Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., appeared concerned that Qatar could install spy equipment on the plane. The North Carolina senator declared that the U.S. should “put it through its paces several times before it becomes the primary means of transport for the president.”