May 22, 2025:
WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has accepted a luxury Boeing 747 jet from Qatar for President Donald Trump to use as Air Force One, the Pentagon said Wednesday (May 21, 2025), despite ongoing questions about the ethics and legality of taking the expensive gift from a foreign nation.
The Defense Department will “work to ensure proper security measures” on the plane to make it safe for use by the president, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said. He added that the plane was accepted “in accordance with all federal rules and regulations.”
Trump has defended the gift, which came up during his recent Middle East trip, as a way to save tax dollars.
“Why should our military, and therefore our taxpayers, be forced to pay hundreds of millions of Dollars when they can get it for FREE,” Trump posted on his social media site during the trip.
Others, however, have said Trump’s acceptance of an aircraft that has been called a “palace in the sky” is a violation of the Constitution’s prohibition on foreign gifts. Democrats have been united in outrage, and even some of the Republican president’s GOP allies in Congress have expressed concerns.
“This unprecedented action is a stain on the office of the presidency and cannot go unanswered,” said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York. “Until Americans get transparency on this shady deal, which apparently includes a corrupt plot for Donald Trump to keep the plane at his library after leaving office, I’ll continue to hold all Department of Justice political nominees.”
Schumer has introduced legislation that would prohibit any foreign aircraft from being used as Air Force One and forbid use of taxpayer money to modify or restore the aircraft. But on Wednesday, Republican Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas objected when Schumer asked for a vote, thus blocking it. He did not offer an explanation for his objection.
Critics also have noted the need to retrofit the plane to meet security requirements, which would be costly and take time.
“Far from saving money, this unconstitutional action will not only cost our nation its dignity, but it will force taxpayers to waste over $1 billion in taxpayer dollars to overhaul this particular aircraft when we currently have not one, but two fully operational and fully capable Air Force One aircraft,” said Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill.
She said during a hearing Tuesday that it is a “dangerous course of action” for the U.S. to accept the aircraft from the Qatari ruling family.
Air Force Secretary Troy Meink told senators that Hegseth has ordered the service to start planning how to update the jet to meet needed standards and acknowledged that the plane will require “significant” modifications.
The Air Force, in a statement, said it is preparing to award a contract to modify a Boeing 747 aircraft, but that any details are classified.
Trump was asked about the move Wednesday while he was meeting in the Oval Office with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. “They are giving the United States Air Force a jet,” Trump said, bristling at being questioned about the gift by a reporter.
Trump said it was given “not to me, to the United States Air Force, so they could help us out” and noted that “Boeing’s a little bit late, unfortunately.”
Ramaphosa, who was sitting next to Trump and has been working to repair his relationship with the president, said, “I’m sorry I don’t have a plane to give you.”
“If your country was offering the United States Air Force a plane, I would take it,” Trump said.
Trump has presented no national security imperative for a swift upgrade rather than waiting for Boeing to finish new Air Force One jets that have been in the works for years.
He has tried to tamp down some of the opposition by saying he wouldn’t fly around in the aircraft when his term ends. Instead, he said, the plane would be donated to a future presidential library, similar to how the Boeing 707 used by President Ronald Reagan was decommissioned and put on display as a museum piece.
May 13, 2025:
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday (May 13, 2025) that he will hold up all Department of Justice nominations on the Senate floor until he gets more answers about the free Air Force One replacement that President Donald Trump says would be donated by Qatar.
Trump said this week that he wants to accept the $400 million plane, and that it would later be donated to a presidential library. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News on Monday that the details of the donation are still being worked out.
The plan, Schumer said, “is not just naked corruption, it is also a grave national security threat.”
Schumer said he wants answers from Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Trump administration about whether it is investigating activities inside the United States by Qatari foreign agents that could benefit Trump or his business. He also wants to know if Qatar will be responsible for adding security measures to the plane and how it will be built and paid for.
“The Attorney General must testify before both the House and Senate to explain why gifting Donald Trump a private jet does not violate the emoluments clause — which requires congressional approval — or any other ethics laws,” Schumer said.
Democrats have expressed uniform outrage about the potential foreign gift and many Republicans are uneasy about the plan, as well. Returning to Washington on Monday evening, senators in both parties questioned how the deal would work and stressed the importance of following federal laws that govern how a U.S. president can accept gifts from foreign countries.
“We need to look at the constitutionality of it,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., who said she’d be concerned about possible spying devices installed on the plane. Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma said that Trump had said he would follow the law, and “that’s the right answer.”
Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky said Trump shouldn’t accept the jet. “I don’t think it looks good or smells good,” Paul said. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said he’d prefer “a big, beautiful jet made in the United States of America.”
Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma was one of the few senators defending the deal. “Why would we care if another country wanted to give the United States a gift?” he asked.
Schumer’s holds mean that the Senate can’t quickly confirm any of Trump’s Justice Department nominees. Many lower level nominations, such as U.S. attorneys, are often approved in groups by voice vote.
Democratic Sens. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Brian Schatz of Hawaii, Chris Coons of Delaware and Cory Booker of New Jersey also have said they will call for a vote this week to reaffirm the “basic principle” that public servants should not take foreign gifts for personal gain.
Murphy said in a floor speech Tuesday that Trump’s corruption is “wildly public” and that his hope is that “by doing it publicly, he can con the American people into thinking it’s not corruption because he’s not hiding it.”
Coons raised security concerns.
“The Trojan Horse was a gift, too,” he posted on X.
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