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Donald Trump has defended a plan for the US to accept a $400mn jumbo jet from Qatar “free of charge” after Democrats criticised the move as “corruption in plain sight”.
In a social media post on Sunday, the US president said the Department of Defense would receive a Boeing 747-8 from the Gulf state to replace “the 40-year-old Air Force One”.
A replacement plane being made by Boeing in the US has been delayed by several years.
Trump, who is due to visit Qatar this week, said the plane would be a temporary solution. News reports on Sunday suggested the aircraft would remain in the US and be donated to the Trump presidential library foundation once the president left office.
As well as being a potential violation of the emoluments clause in the US Constitution, such a gift would probably be the largest by a foreign state or entity to a US president in recent history.
Trump called the move a “very public and transparent transaction” and accused the Democrats of wanting to pay “top dollar” for the plane. “Anybody can do that!”
ABC News originally reported on the proposed gift. Qatar called the report “inaccurate” but confirmed that “the possible transfer of an aircraft for temporary use as Air Force One is currently under consideration”.
Ali Al-Ansari, media attaché at Qatar’s Washington embassy, said: “The matter remains under review by the respective legal departments, and no decision has been made.”
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Reports of the proposed gift from Qatar provoked criticism even from some of Trump’s most loyal supporters. Influencer Laura Loomer labelled the transaction as “a $400 million ‘gift’ from jihadists in suits” and suggested it would be “such a stain on the admin if this is true”.
Norm Eisen, a former White House ethics tsar and frequent Trump critic, said the move was “illegal and unconstitutional”.
The Qatari-owned 747 is just over a decade old and one of the most luxurious private planes in the world. Trump toured it while it was parked at Palm Beach International Airport — near his Mar-a-Lago home — in February, according to The New York Times.
Trump is headed to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates this week. The trip has already attracted criticism from campaigners, after Eric Trump struck business deals for the Trump Organization ahead of his father’s visit.
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