Trump's plan to accept free Air Force One replacement from Qatar raises
ethical and security worries
[May 13, 2025]
By CHRIS MEGERIAN, ZEKE MILLER and BERNARD CONDON
WASHINGTON (AP) — For President Donald Trump, accepting a free Air Force
One replacement from Qatar is a no-brainer.
“I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer,” the
Republican told reporters on Monday. “I could be a stupid person and
say, ‘No, we don’t want a free, very expensive airplane.’”
Critics of the plan worry that the move threatens to turn a global
symbol of American power into an airborne collection of ethical, legal,
security and counterintelligence concerns.
“This is unprecedented," said Jessica Levinson, a constitutional law
expert at Loyola Law School. "We just haven’t tested these boundaries
before.”
Trump tried to tamp down some of the opposition by saying he wouldn't
fly around in the gifted Boeing 747 when his term ends. Instead, he
said, the $400 million 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.
“It would go directly to the library after I leave office," Trump said.
"I wouldn’t be using it.”
However, that did little to quell the controversy over the plane.
Democrats are united in outrage, and even some of the Republican
president's allies are worried. Laura Loomer, an outspoken conspiracy
theorist who has tried to purge disloyal officials from the
administration, wrote on social media that she would "take a bullet for
Trump” but said she's “so disappointed.”
Congressional Republicans have also expressed some doubts about the
plan.
“My view is that it would be better if Air Force One were a big,
beautiful jet made in the United States of America. That would be
ideal,” said Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley.
And Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul flatly said he was a “No” on whether Trump
should accept the plane. When asked to elaborate on his reasoning, Paul
replied: “I don’t think it looks good or smells good.” The Republican
shrugged when asked by a reporter if there were “constitutional
questions.”
Trump will likely face persistent questions about the plane in the
coming days as he travels to the Middle East, including a stop in Qatar.
Why does Trump want the Qatari plane?
The two planes currently used as Air Force One have been flying for
nearly four decades, and Trump is eager to replace them. During his
first term, he displayed a model of a new jumbo jet in the Oval Office,
complete with a revised paint scheme that echoed the red, white and dark
blue design of his personal plane.
Boeing has been working on retrofitting 747s that were originally built
for a now-defunct Russian airliner. But the program has faced nearly a
decade of delays — with perhaps more on the way — from a series of
issues, including a critical subcontractor’s bankruptcy and the
difficulty of finding and retaining qualified staff who could be awarded
high-level security clearances.
The new planes aren’t due to be finished until near the end of Trump’s
term, and he’s out of patience. He has described the situation as “a
total mess," and he has complained that Air Force One isn't as nice as
the planes flown by some Arab leaders.
"It’s not even the same ballgame," he said.
Trump said Qatar, which hosts the largest U.S. military base in the
Middle East, offered a replacement plane that could be used while the
government was waiting for Boeing to finish.
“We give free things out," he said. “We’ll take one, too.”
He bristled at suggestions that he should turn down the plane, comparing
the potential gift to favors on the golf course.
“When they give you a putt, you pick it up and you walk to the next hole
and you say, ‘Thank you very much,’” he said.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota expressed skepticism.
“I understand his frustration. They’re way behind schedule on delivering
the next Air Force One,” the Republican told reporters. “Whether or not
this is the right solution or not, I don’t know.”
Mississippi GOP Sen. Roger Wicker said that any plane “needs to be
gifted to the United States of America."
He added that it whether the U.S. should accept a Qatari plane warranted
further inquiry. “There’ll be some questions about that, and this issue,
I expect, will be vetted by the time a decision needs to be made.”
Will the new plane be secure?
The Qatari plane has been described as a “palace in the sky,” complete
with luxurious accommodations and top-of-the-line finishes.
But security is the primary concern when it comes to presidential
travel. The current Air Force One planes were built from scratch near
the end of the Cold War. They are hardened against the effects of a
nuclear blast and include a range of security features, such as
anti-missile countermeasures and an onboard operating room. They are
also equipped with air-to-air refueling capabilities for contingencies,
though it has never been utilized with a president on board.
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President Donald Trump answers a reporter's question during an event
in the Roosevelt Room at the White House, Monday, May 12, 2025, in
Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
A former U.S. official briefed on the Air Force One replacement
project said that while it would be possible to add some features to
the Qatari jet, there was no way to add the full suite of
capabilities to the plane on a tight timetable.
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the
sensitive program, said it would be a risk for presidents to fly on
such a jet.
One of the most important features of Air Force One is the
communications capabilities. Presidents can use the plane as a
flying Situation Room, allowing them to respond to crises anywhere
on the globe.
However, on Sept. 11, 2001, Republican President George W. Bush was
frustrated by communications issues and ordered up massive
technology upgrades over subsequent years to improve the president’s
ability to monitor events and communicate with people around the
world.
The new ones under development by Boeing are being stripped down so
workers can replace the standard wiring with shielded cabling.
They're also modifying the jet with an array of classified security
measures and communications capabilities.
Because of the high standards for ensuring a president can
communicate clearly and securely, there are fears that Trump would
be compromising safety by rushing to modify the Qatari jet.
"Disassembling and evaluating the plane for collection/spy devices
will take years,” William Evanina, who served as director of the
National Counterintelligence and Security Center during Trump’s
first term, wrote on social media.
He said the plane should be considered nothing more than “a gracious
presidential museum piece.”
Is any of this legal or ethical?
Even for a president who has blurred traditional lines around public
service and personal gain, Trump's plans to receive a jumbo jet as a
gift has rattled Washington.
The Constitution prohibits federal officials from accepting things
of value, or “emoluments,” from foreign governments without
congressional approval.
“This is a classic example of what the founders worried about," said
Richard Painter, a law professor at the University of Minnesota and
former White House ethics chief under Bush. “But I don’t think the
founders anticipated it would get this bad.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News on Monday
that the details of the donation are “still being worked out” but
would be done “in full compliance with the law.”
She dismissed idea the idea that Qatar wanted to influence Trump.
“They know President Trump, and they know he only works with the
interests of the American public in mind,” she said.
Trump faced a legal fight over emoluments during his first term,
when he opened the doors of his D.C. hotel to lobbyists, business
executives and diplomats. His lawyers argued that the founders
didn’t intend to ban transactions representing an exchange of a
service like hotel space for money, only outright gifts. But some
ethics lawyers disagreed, and it’s not clear if Kuwait, Saudi
Arabia, the Philippines and other countries were paying full price
or more for when they used the hotel.
In his second term, Trump's family business has been very busy
overseas. In December, it struck a deal for two Trump-branded real
estate projects in Riyadh with a Saudi firm that two years earlier
it had partnered with for a Trump golf resort and villas in Oman.
And in Qatar, the Trump Organization announced last month another
Trump branded resort along the coast.
Four Democratic senators on the Foreign Relations Committee — Brian
Schatz of Hawaii, Chris Coons of Delaware, Cory Booker of New Jersey
and Chris Murphy of Connecticut — issued a statement saying Trump's
plan “creates a clear conflict of interest, raises serious national
security questions, invites foreign influence, and undermines public
trust in our government."
"No one — not even the president — is above the law,” they said.
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Condon reported from New York. Associated Press writers Matt Brown,
Lolita Baldor and Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.
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