It is believed that Trump will be receiving a new plane
The Defense Department is getting a gift of a jet, FREE OF CHARGE, of Air Force One, (The case of Donald Trump)
A White House official who is not authorized to speak publicly confirmed that a plane will not be presented to the Department of Defense nor accepted this week in Qatari, but also said that the gift will not be accepted this week.
The offer came shortly before Trump’s visit to the Middle East. The president is scheduled to go to Saudi Arabia and other areas in the Middle East.
Trump said Monday that the plane isn’t a gift to him, but to the Department of Defense. It will be retired after his term and he won’t use it after leaving office.
He wrote: “So the fact that the Defense Department is getting a GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE, of a 747 aircraft to replace the 40 year old Air Force One, temporarily, in a very public and transparent transaction, so bothers the Crooked Democrats that they insist we pay, TOP DOLLAR, for the plane. Anybody can do that. The Dems are World Class Losers!!!”
A gift given by a foreign government is always accepted in full compliance with all applicable laws, said the White House spokeswoman.
In his first term, Trump struck a deal with Boeing to supply the next generation of Air Force One. Under the terms of that deal, Trump agreed to pay $3.9 billion for two customized 747s. The president was upset with the time the aircraft manufacturer was taking to deliver the aircraft.
During Trump’s first term, he was accused of violating federal laws by getting favors from foreign governments, including guests at his hotels, leases in his buildings and valuable real estate deals abroad. The case made its way to the Supreme Court, but was dismissed as moot after he left office in 2021.
He says it raises a lot of red flags because of his government or his personal business in the country.
Can President Donald Trump Accept Qatar’s Luxury Plane Gift? A Critique of the Trump Organization and a Rep. Ritchie Torres
Presidents typically receive gifts like cufflinks and bottles of wine, Libowitz says, and are required to turn such gifts over to the U.S. government — generally the National Archives — unless they pay fair market value to keep them.
“He is making money there and that makes us very uncomfortable,” Libowitz says. “Is America’s best interest being served, or is it the best interests of the Trump Organization?”
The Trump Organization — of which Trump handed formal control to his sons in 2017 — did not pledge to avoid making deals with private companies abroad during his second term, unlike his first. In April, the company made a deal to build a golf resort.
The language in the Foreign Emoluments Clause was cited by a former constitutional law professor as being the reason why Trump must seek Congress’ consent to accept the gift.
Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., wrote a letter asking the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the acting Department of Defense inspector general and the Office of Government Ethics to conduct an immediate review.
He wrote that the American people were watching what was “flying grift, in real time.” “If we fail to draw the line here, there may soon be no line left to draw.”
Torres is asking them to issue a formal advisory opinion on whether the gift violates federal ethics regulations, and to recommend policy reforms “to prevent the conversion of foreign gifts into private property” by any president.
The only way Congress can prevent the gift or reprimanded is by impeaching Trump, according to Briffault.
Briffault says Trump has ignored many of the existing guardrails on the presidency — from firing over a dozen inspectors general of federal agencies to ousting the head of the Office of Government Ethics.
Trump’s plans have been roundly criticized by various prominent Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who called it “premium foreign influence with extra legroom.”
Source: Ethics experts worry about the implications of Trump accepting Qatar’s luxury plane
A Presidential Library in Washington D.C. Considering a Decommissioned Air Force One Plane: Donald Trump and the US Department of Defense
Trump says he will be following in the footsteps of former President Ronald Reagan, who has a decommissioned Air Force One plane at his presidential library in California. The Associated Press reported in March that Donald Trump’s team was scouting locations for a presidential library.
A statement released by Ali Al- Ansari, the media attaché to the U.S., said that the US Department of Defense is reviewing the transfer of the aircraft from the Ministry of Defense in Qatar.