U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to accept a Qatari jet as an Air Force One replacement has raised a long list of legal, ethical and technical questions.
Any deal to accept the plane has not been finalized, but since the weekend Trump has been adamant that he wants it. “They’re giving us a free jet,” he said, adding that only “a stupid person” would say no.
Here are the facts as it stands now.
What’s this Qatari plane like?
It’s a Boeing 747 specially built as a private jet 13 years ago. It serves as part of a fleet of jets Qatar maintains for use by its royal family. Various media outlets have described it as “a flying palace,” “super luxury,” and “opulently configured.”
It has been widely quoted as being worth $400 million US but it’s not clear where that figure comes from, and some have said its value is less. But there’s no doubt this is a lavishly outfitted plane that’s worth a lot of money.
Does the U.S. have rules about this?
It does, but there is fierce debate over how, and whether, they apply.
The U.S. Constitution prohibits the president from accepting gifts or “emoluments” from foreigners, unless Congress says it’s OK. (An emolument is a payment for services.) Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy said it would be blatantly unconstitutional for Trump to accept the plane. “The founding fathers knew it was evil for members of Congress or the president to accept a gift from a foreign government.”
However, the Trump administration and Qatar are not describing it as a gift.
Qatar calls it a “loan” to the U.S. government while Trump is president. And Attorney General Pam Bondi said accepting the plane is legal because it will be handed over to Trump’s presidential library before his term ends. By doing that, Trump can claim that it benefits the government in the short term (not him personally), and is then owned by his library after (not him).
As far as the library is concerned, this has happened before. Ronald Reagan’s library includes an Air Force One Pavilion, where you can walk through the aircraft (it’s on permanent loan from the Defence Department). Also, Richard Nixon’s library has his Marine One helicopter.
And yet, even some of Trump’s most loyal supporters have urged him not to do it, at least in part because it’s coming from Qatar. “Taking sacks of goodies from people who support Hamas, Muslim Brotherhood, Al Jazeera, all the rest, that’s not America First,” said podcaster Ben Shapiro.
So, ethical and legal issues aside, this plane is good to go?
In short, no. If it is delivered, it would take far more than a paint job to make this an operational part of the Air Force One fleet.
Military and intelligence experts as well as politicians say the plane would have to be disassembled down to its constituent parts and checked for bugs and other threats. Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said it “poses significant espionage and surveillance problems.”
It would also need to be retrofitted with secure communications systems, advanced security features and even weapons. Cost estimates for this range from the hundreds of millions up to a billion dollars. Few think it could be done quickly.
