Trump set to accept luxury jet as gift from Qatar, ABC News says
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President Donald Trump inspected this Qatari-owned Boeing jet when it touched down in Florida in February.
PHOTO: REUTERS
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s administration is likely to accept a luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet from Qatar’s royal family in what may be the most valuable gift ever received from a foreign government, ABC News reported on May 11.
Qatar later said reports of a gift were “inaccurate.” Mr Ali-Al-Ansari, Qatar’s media attaché to the US, told Bloomberg that a possible transfer of the plane for “temporary use as Air Force One is currently under consideration,” but that “no decision has been made.”
ABC, citing people familiar with the plans, said that a gift is expected to be announced this week, when Mr Trump visits Qatar as part of his Middle East tour.
The super luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet is to be used as Air Force One, the people told the network.
The White House and Department of Justice did not immediately respond to ABC’s request for comment, including on whether the gift is legal.
Mr Trump has been seeking alternatives to replace the aging Air Force One after chronic delays by Boeing in delivering two new aircraft the president ordered during his first term.
The Air Force has said Boeing is proposing to deliver its new version of Air Force One by 2027.
Bloomberg News previously reported that Mr Trump inspected a Qatari-owned Boeing jet when it touched down in West Palm Beach, Florida, in February.
At that time, the president told reporters he was “not happy” with Boeing, and that his administration was considering doing “something else”.
“We may go and buy a plane,” Mr Trump said days after touring the jet, which has been used by Mr Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, one of the Qatar royal family’s wealthiest figures, for the past decade.
US Attorney-General Pam Bondi and Mr Trump’s top White House lawyer David Warrington drafted an analysis concluding that the donation of the aircraft would be “legally permissible” as long as its ownership is transferred to Mr Trump’s presidential library before the end of his term, according to ABC.
