Political Storm Brews as Trump Admin Considers Gift of Luxury Jet from Qatar
In 2018, the Air Force contracted with Boeing to produce two new aircraft, but last year Boeing announced they wouldn’t be ready until 2029.
Sources familiar with the situation told ABC News on Sunday that the Trump administration is poised to accept a Boeing 747-8 luxury jet as a donation from the royal family of Qatar.
According to ABC News:
The plane will initially be transferred to the United States Air Force which will modify the 13-year-old aircraft to meet the U.S. military specifications required for any aircraft used to transport the president of the United States, multiple sources familiar with the arrangement said.
The plane will then be transferred to the Trump Presidential Library Foundation no later than Jan. 1, 2029, and any costs related to the transfer will be paid for by the U.S. Air Force, the sources told ABC News.
The aircraft is reportedly so lavishly appointed that it has been dubbed the “palace in the sky.” Valued at an estimated $400 million, it would rank among the most significant gifts ever received by the U.S. from a foreign nation. News of its potential acceptance has sparked outrage on the Left and raised ethics concerns even among some Trump supporters.
President Trump took aim at his critics in a Sunday night post on Truth Social.
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 12, 2025
In response to Trump’s post, The Daily Wire’s Ryan Saavedra wrote: “No one gives a $400 million gift and expects nothing in return.” I think he speaks for many Americans.
Although this story is new to most of us, Trump toured the jet in February when it was parked at Palm Beach International Airport. At that time, The New York Times reported that the aircraft was considered a possible replacement for Air Force One.
And there is a reason for that. It turns out that delays on the government’s contract with Boeing for two new jets to replace the aging Air Force One airplanes have become so excessive that Trump said he would look to refurbish a plane. According to the Times, Boeing is at least three years behind schedule on delivering the jets.
ABC reported that the current Air Force One jets have been in service since 1990. In 2018, the Air Force contracted with Boeing to produce two new aircraft, but last year Boeing announced they wouldn’t be ready until 2029. In response, Trump tasked Elon Musk with helping to accelerate the timeline, after which Boeing agreed to deliver the planes by 2027.
Perhaps wary of Boeing’s assurances, Trump has been exploring alternative options.
ABC reached out to the Qatari government for a comment. Ali Al-Ansari, Qatar’s media attaché to the U.S., informed the outlet that “the matter was still under discussion.” Al-Ansari said:
Reports that a jet is being gifted by Qatar to the United States government during the upcoming visit of President Trump are inaccurate. The possible transfer of an aircraft for temporary use as Air Force One is currently under consideration between Qatar’s Ministry of Defense and the U.S. Department of Defense, but the matter remains under review by the respective legal departments, and no decision has been made.
Sources told ABC that Trump administration attorneys led by White House counsel David Warrington and Attorney General Pam Bondi have completed an analysis of the arrangement. They concluded that “it is legal for the Department of Defense to accept the aircraft as a gift and later turn it over to the Trump library, and that it does not violate laws against bribery or the Constitution’s prohibition (the emoluments clause) of any U.S. government official accepting gifts ‘from any King, Prince, or foreign State.'”
So, the bottom line is that while Qatar is donating the aircraft, it does not constitute a gift “to Trump.”
In a statement to ABC, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, said: “Any gift given by a foreign government is always accepted in full compliance with all applicable laws. President Trump’s administration is committed to full transparency.”
That still leaves the optics of the U.S. receiving such a valuable gift from a foreign government, particularly from a Middle Eastern country with terrorist ties.
Citing the Emoluments Clause, which Trump’s legal team has already examined and dismissed, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) pounced on the report.
Article I, Section 9, Clause 8:
“no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.”
Seems pretty clear that a…
— Adam Schiff (@SenAdamSchiff) May 11, 2025
Predictably, the highly partisan and often truth-challenged Jamie Raskin (D-MD) insisted the administration must receive permission from Congress before accepting the gift.
Trump must seek Congress’ consent to take this $300 million gift from Qatar. The Constitution is perfectly clear: no present “of any kind whatever” from a foreign state without Congressional permission. A gift you use for four years and then deposit in your library is still a… https://t.co/GmTWK3pFJi
— Rep. Jamie Raskin (@RepRaskin) May 11, 2025
The Times reached out to government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington for a comment on Sunday. This group sued Trump during his first term “over what it described as violations of the Emoluments Clause.” Spokesman Jordan Libowitz issued a statement saying this raises “a range of ethical issues far beyond whether it violated the Constitution, in part because he may continue using it after leaving office.”
It’s hard to see it as a coincidence when Trump’s company just announced a new golf resort in Qatar, reportedly partnered with a company owned by the country’s government, and will soon be meeting with senior Qatari officials in a Middle East trip that also features meetings with heads of state of two other countries he has property developments in.
At this point, it’s impossible to tell the difference between decisions being made by the White House for the good of the country and for the good of the Trump Organization.
I agree that the optics of accepting such a valuable gift from Qatar are not ideal. However, given the repeated delays in the government’s contract with Boeing, his administration’s transparency regarding the issue, assurances from the White House counsel and the attorney general of the gift’s legality, and the fact that Democrats will criticize Trump no matter what he does, it strikes me as a pragmatic solution.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on LinkedIn or X.
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Yes they will
But, is the old plane that bad?
Is there safety concerns
Depends on how many flight hours are on the airframe. Engines can, and probably have been replaced. But over 30 years on flying can fatigue load carrying parts of the structure, etc. wiring harnesses, hydraulic components, etc. age too. There are likely lots of increased inspections, but some things aren’t easily seen or measured.
There have been 747s with six-figure airframe hours that fly just fine and are perfectly safe. The fleet of planes used as Air Force One have fractions of those hours, so fatigue and the like should not be an issue.
As for Boeing not being able to fulfill the contract for what amounts to be off-the-shelf aircraft but custom fitted: it just shows what happens when a company goes from being an engineering company that makes airplanes to a collection of MBAs pushing product.
“… to a [woke] collection of [DEI] MBAs pushing product”
I knew what I mean to say, and said it.
from 2024:
In July, 99.9% of the thousands of Boeing’s Machinist Union members voted to authorize a strike vote if needed, the union confirmed to KIRO Newsradio. The members met at T-Mobile Park to vote.
Sept. 10: Boeing machinists plan for a strike. Union leaders are asking for a 40% raise in pay, but union president Jon Holden told The Seattle Times the latest offer calls for a 25% increase instead, which Holden said is still the largest general pay wage increase they’ve ever seen.
The IAM chapter at Renton and other Washington locations go on strike with such regularity you can set your watch by them.
It is one reason Boeing shifted production for the 787 to Charleston. Then, the questions of safety and workmanship turned up in the media. Not Union Labor you know!
IDK if it’s that bad but people are missing the big story. Boeing needs 11 years to build a plane? You think this might be Trump trying to light a fire under their kiesters?
I find it sad that Douglas is gone. Not McD-D, but the REAL Douglas. Those folks could build an airplane!
There has never been an in-flight failure of a DC-3. A military DC-4 once flew into a waterspout at night. Crew was able to recover (superb). The plane landed safely, but the next morning upon inspection the airframe was badly twisted. I would throw rocks at the DC-19/MD-11 when compared to the Lockheed L-1011 especially about the tail engine on the “Douglas”.
If I was any good with drawing and photo programs I would take a DC-10 picture and do up a livery showing the third engine held on with strapping machine tape and baling wire. What a sad design.
The DC9/MD8 series were indestructible.
My screen name at an aviation website is “Western DC6B”, in honor of the DC6/DC7/ Another stout plane that did not come apart unless you did something nasty to it.
I flew the DC-10, and I am here to disagree with you. My airline had a passenger sucked out of a DC-10 over New Mexico and he was never found and the DC-10 in Paris crashed because of a poorly designed cargo door latch. The hydraulic system was an accident waiting to happen, and it took years to sort it out. I flew the McDonnell F-4 and never had a bad word for McDonnell. During WWII, Douglas was the go-to company for the Navy, and they produced some awesome war planes, including the Hellcat and the civilian DC-8 and the prop DC-3, 4, 6, and 7 planes. Then they merged with McDonnell, and things changed.
I flew on a DC-10 once from Colorado Springs to Boston. I sat midway in the plane over a wing. There was so much grinding noise accompanied by shaking. It sounded and felt like cables shifting and moving. I thought the plane was going to break in half right underneath me. Never heard anything like it on any other plane I flew. It was the first and last time I flew on a DC-10.
The original contract was struck 11+ years ago. In the years since, there have undoubtedly been many ECPs and CCPs (Engineering and Contract Change Proposals) for add-ons and technology updates, each of which comes with a cost increase and a revised schedule. There’s also the tendency of customers to “gold plate” the product through out-of-scope demands during periodic program management and technical reviews and by order of the PMO.
To disparage Boeing for missing the original deadline while never mentioning any/every ECP/CCP schedule/cost increase, is straight-up dishonest.
By way of comparison, AWACS aircraft are delivered and deployed on time, but go through blockpoint updates a few at a time my rotating aircraft 1 or 2 at a time out of service. I can imagine with AF1 a significant reason for the schedule slides and cost increases is to do with there being just the 2 – and the government demanding every change be incorporated at initial delivery – with no plan for rotating them in/out of service for updates.
Boeing certainly has problems and sometimes I wonder whether I’ll continue to receive my pension, but they’re between a rock and a hard place with AF1. What kind of pushback do you think they’d get if they brought the receipts for buyer-initiated delays?
Perhaps of Boeing could actually produce something flyable…
Good point. But do you think Trump is of an age to parasail everywhere?
The problem is these craft have maintenance schedules that can ground them for weeks or months. There are parts that are no longer manufactured and need to be fabricated which extends the time.
It might be time to get past the old-fashioned thinking about four engines vs two. The FACT must b be faced that there are no production airliners, single or two-aisle, being made with four engines anymore.
Thanks, but I’ve planned/flown the nuclear war stuff. I want 4 engines. Period.
If it were for me, I would of course accept. But could never really be a substitute for Air Force One. Far too many potential internal security issues. And I doubt any luxury plane could offer the counter-measures Air Force One is equipped to deploy. Maybe we should dangle it in front of Canada in exchange for Alberta? They can keep Quebec.
You realize what they are offering is basically the exact same airframe? And it’s going through a conversion process right now to turn it into the airborne command post the President needs?
Ok but it hasn’t gone through the same, highly controlled process that Air Force One undergoes during manufacture/outfitting. It might have some uses, but it could never really be trusted as an absolutely secure environment.
Agreed on the security issues, for sure. There are too many other questions.
Exactly what use does a “presidential library” get out of an airplane?
There are two AF1s. The other is a decoy, Who’s going to build that?
Having Joe Biden in the plane probably left an unpleasant odor.
Sorry, the “bad optics” on this one outweigh pretty much every other consideration.
What “bad optics”? It’s not a gift to Trump personally, it’s a gift to the United States.
The Trump administration is finally prying China’s and Qatar’s financial influence out of American higher education. And guess who shows up with a luxury gift for “our country?”
Trump’s political strength is being a man of the people instead of an elitist. This plane is like a block-long stretch limo. The practicality is swamped by the eliteness.
Well I think the really big optics problem is that Trump plans to transfer it to his library when he leaves office. If he left it for the next president most of the bad optics go away.
That’s a cop out. As usual, the media are lying their pants off about the context and facts and I guess those who still pay attention to the legacy media are lapping it up.
Of course they are lying, and leftists and general lo-fo voters do lap it up. But regardless of context and facts, Qatar is a bad actor and this is not a good look. Everything involves trade offs, this isn’t worth the grief, it will be used to spin virtually anything Trump does in the Middle East going forward.
Any political storm brewing should be outrage at the fact it takes Boeing more than 12 years to deliver two damn airplanes. What is the bureaucracy doing to make it take so long?!
If the current Air Force One planes have been in service since 1990 that makes them 35 years old. It’s ridiculous to use such old planes. Even if they have been overhauled, you know that modern tech is so much better that new planes should be used.
Anyone moaning about this is really just unhappy with Trump, which we all already knew.
So who has made the process at Boeing slow so cumbersome that’s what we need to be finding out. I don’t think it took Elon Musk as long to design and build a spaceship that would go to the moon.
As stated above, there are plenty of 35+ year old aircraft in service – safe service – with many times more flying hours on them than the presidential aircraft. Age has virtually nothing to do with it.
Age WOULD if they were just abandoned in the corner of some tropical-climate airfield and left to rot. This is not, obviously, the case with these planes, which have led a pampered existence.
The tech would be better integrated. And there is zero doubt that we have had massive technological innovations since 1990.
Just like air traffic control systems need to be updated, so do the systems in Air Force One.
The plane they are flying today has had many technology updates; I can guarantee that.
Depends on how many cycles on the airframe. Need to compare those of a standard airline 747 to AF1.
I think you are overlooking metal fatigue. Age certainly has a lot to do with keeping an old airplane in the air. They also reach a point where repairing them is a losing proposition; that’s why the desert is full of old DC-8s, B707s, B727s, DC-10s, L1011s, 747s, A300s, A310s, and A340s. Most of them could be airworthy, but the cost is no longer worth it.
That, and just plain economics dictate retirement. Why fly with three engines when one can do more with two? As for the DC8, it got a new lease on life when the CFM-56 engine was retrofitted. Noise standards were then met, and fuel consumption dropped like a stone.
I think what so many are missing here is AF1 has to be able to launch on a moment’s notice, into a potentially very ugly flight situation. It’s not just for carting the president from here to Pago-pago to lie on the beach. It is an airborne command post for every kind of contingency including nuclear war. It has to be able to conduct combat departures and arrivals on runways that might not be as long as the places you would take a 747.
The fact it has fewer airframe (or engine) hours than a comparable commercial aircraft is a bit disingenuous.
Down there at Boeing,
Things are real bleak.
Seems that the red ink,
Has sprung a big leak.
Slogans and dictums,
From the Executive realm,
They mention cutbacks,
Watch stock prices swell.
While out in the fact’ry,
Our “brothers-in-arms”,
Are stamping out wildfires,
Just saving the farm.
Despite their heroics,
The backlog grows large,
Their last vacation,
Was when Frank was in charge.
Junior’s in school now,
Sally’s been sad,
Both were in diapers,
When last they saw dad.
Morale takes a nose-dive,
Boeing responds:
“Let’s reduce bennies”,
Still the line rumbles on.
The workers hum strike songs,
And hope someone hears,
While their bosses whistle,
With thumbs in their ears.
“Sell, sell more airplanes”,
Comes a cry from the smoke.
“Ramp up production”,
The factory chokes.
Out on the tarmac,
Planes held for parts;
Hear the men grumble,
“This is FUBAR!”
Employees in Long Beach,
Are very confused;
Thought “Boeing will save us”,
Now ask “who will save you?”
When this is behind us,
I hope we know well,
We all work together,
Or we all go to hell.
The moral to this story,
Is important to note:
Mechanics build airplanes,
Executives don’t.
Too bad America no longer has a dependable aircraft manufacturer.
Why not just pay Qatar for the plane and drop one off the Boeing orders?
If Boeing is taking 12 years to deliver, then just order a commercial wide body from Lockheed or McDonnell Douglas…
I think MD became a part of Boeing and that may be the crux of the problem.
See my reply to Grizzly.
Lockheed no longer makes airliners. Douglas is gone. McDonnell Douglas was merged with Boeing many years ago. The only two major airframe manufacturers in the world today are Boeing and Airbus.
You missed the sarcasm inherent in the ellipsis…
I guess I did. Does that make me as humorless as a leftist?!?
yes.
does this reply make me as snotty as a leftist??? I’m practicing.
Absolutely not
And the Air Force/Secret Service insists on a four engine plane for AF1.
Then, maybe we can get Illushyn to build another IL-62, Vickers a VC-10, or Airbus another A345. /ducking
I don’t see any problem with buying an Airbus, It is time to be pragmatic.
The other alternative is to see if the US airlines will cough up a couple of planes to be bought and modified by the pentagon.
ztak: Airbus no longer has a four engine airliner in their catalog. Antonov is out of business for the duration, the UK buraucratised their way out of commercial aviation decades ago, and Japan never really did figure out how to build a commercial airliner of any size.
Now, if Embraer stepped up to the plate…!
Didn’t know airbus no longer made a 4engine.
They can always buy an older plane and refit it. It doesn’;t have to be new.
We are at a time where any time Democrats are outraged they absolutely have to be ignored 🙄
They are outraged over this but not over 60 service personal being injured in Gaza or Americans being murdered by illigal immigrants or any other number of things infinitely more important that affects Americans in their daily lives.
Give it a rest. If democrats are outraged over something then just f88king laugh at them and move on.
All the Dems know how to do is bitch and moan. Nothing constructive ever comes out of their mouths. If Boeing can’t deliver then you choose an alternative.
Perhaps the Republican controlled congress could just simply take this up and OK it. Or does that seem too much like actually working for them?
There’s no need.
The problem is the optics, and permission from Congress won’t fix that.
Congress approving the gift settles the matter, and leaves Dems impotently screeching into the wind. And Trump looks good on the other end of it as well. It is not unprecedented for congress to approve gifts that the president receives.
No, it doesn’t settle the matter, because the only issue in the first place is how it looks, and it looks like a bribe.
Congress giving permission only solves the foreign emoluments clause problem, and that isn’t a real problem, both because it doesn’t apply to the president, and because nothing is being given to the President.
Did it look bad for Hayes to accept the Resolute Desk from Queen Victoria?
Now, will someone explain why Milhouse gets (at this writing) four downticks for stating fact?
“Now, will someone explain why Milhouse gets (at this writing) four downticks for stating fact?”
Plus one downtick from me.
Because if one bows to “optics”, Trump is done because the “optics” are created by the Democrats’ designated liars (Schiff, Raskin, the leftist media), and are _always_ bad.
“why Milhouse gets (at this writing) four downticks for stating fact?”
Milhouse reliably posts what actually is, rather than what other commenters wish were so. Reality is not comfortable and unfortunately people take it out on him. Milhouse doesn’t start each post with “I wish this weren’t the case, but here’s how the law is written…”. It would possibly increase his treatment in here, but lordy it would be tedious for him to type.
A cheap bribe if it is
You are joking, right!
Trump has billions , America has trillions upon trillions
This is chump change
Milhouse -Agreed. It is a bad look to accept it.
gonzotx – The US Gov’t doesn’t have trillions, it is $36+ trillion in debt, that’s not counting unfunded future liabilities for programs like SSI, Medicare.
The desk was not for him, it was for the White House, as evidenced by the fact that Trump is still using it. The plane is just for Trump. The arrangement is that as soon as he’s not president any more, and thus the foreign emoluments clause no longer applies (based on the false assumption that it does apply now), it will be transferred to him (his library, which is essentially him), and will not be available to the next president or to any subsequent president.
Whether that’s a bribe or not, it looks like one.
How is a gift to the United States “bad optics”?
It’s not the gift idea, it is from whom it is being offered.
The framing was always gonna be ‘Qatar is giving Trump a luxury plane’. There’s not a very simple straightforward way to.counter it. That’s the bad optics.
Then there’s Qatar who we SHOULD be stiff arming on all their ‘gifts’ to Universities, think tanks and ‘non profit’/NGO that they use to deliberately buy influence and export radicals from across the globe to the USA to cause disruption and chaos.
This isn’t an issue of ‘Oh, Trump and/or GoP are big meanie heads b/c they deported X or cut funding for racist Universities’ that we should ignore b/c it is stupidly disingenuous. This is a legit criticism we shouldn’t ignore.
The problem for the leftists is that average folk don’t care about the optics. A $400 million plane and no taxpayer dollars spent = a BARGAIN
Average folk only care about the optics, because that’s all they see. They don’t know the reality, which may be quite different.
Truth is 400 million is a drop in the bucket for the Arabs and it’s actually a drop in the bucket for Trump. He’s not gonna be beholding to anyone for $400 million.
Anyone consider that it is like the candy you buy your wife after a big argument? Maybe Qatar is like ok we f***ed up really bad letting the Hamas leaders sit here and celebrate on camera while the rest of Hamas murdered civilian Jews on Oct 7. How about we give you a plane and you go easy on us. Yes that is technically considered a bribe but since Trump has not announced sanctions or anything against Qatar then maybe not.
It’s the foreign emoluments clause. There are two emoluments clauses in the constitution, one regarding foreign emoluments and one regarding domestic.
And one reason that it doesn’t violate the foreign emoluments clause is that that clause doesn’t apply to the president. (The domestic one does.) So Qatar could give him the plane directly, as a personal gift, and so long as it wasn’t expressly conditioned on them receiving anything in return it would be perfectly legal. Schiff and Raskin are both, predictably, full of schiff. So is CREW, as usual.
Presidents receive gifts all the time as you point out. The plane is being offered to the US as a loan and not to Trump. Dems as you say are lying as usual.
This story, though largely overlooked, has been news since May 1st.
https://www.twz.com/air/is-an-interim-air-force-one-replacement-even-feasible
And, the deep-dive linked in that article appears to indicate that Qatar has been trying to unload that plane since 2020.
https://www.twz.com/34649/this-qatari-747-8i-jumbo-jet-for-sale-may-be-the-worlds-most-lavish-flying-palace
(The Govt should just pay for it out of the $5B that Biden’s minions allotted to Stacy Abrams for energy efficient washing machines in GA and be done with it.)
Correction: Stacy A. only got $2B.
Presidents receive gifts all the time, but not for themselves. Despite the constitution not requiring it, common practice for nearly 200 years has been that the president accepts all gifts worth over $400 or so in the name of the USA, and deposits them with the government. When he leaves office he has the option of buying any gifts he particularly wants to keep, at market value.
This plane is being offered not to the USA, for the use of future presidents, but to Trump alone. The transfer arrangement is clearly just a workaround. So it’s different from all the other gifts.
My point was merely that the actual constitution doesn’t require any of this. It’s a tradition, but it’s not required. As far as the constitution is concerned the president is free to accept any gifts he likes from foreign governments, so long as they’re not literally bribes, i.e. explicitly payment for specific services rendered. George Washington did, and no one said a word, because they knew the constitution was OK with it. So any structuring of the deal to avoid the foreign emoluments clause is superfluous.
the fact that the plane is bugged and possibly doomed
is good enough to not accept
BUT THE REALITY IS THAT its just an obvious bad look to take this gift
THE TROJAN HORSE HAS ARRIVED!!!
What a stupid concept. Do you think it wouldn’t be swept for bugs and bombs regularly?
This is a pretty stupid take 😂 This aircraft will be gutted and stripped back not just for new avionics to be installed but to check airframes and everything else to ensure it’s airworthy 😂
Not to mention the work is being done by a contractor quite well versed in “the way of things” 😂😂
That aircraft will be torn apart during inspection, as airlines do when they overhaul an airliner. (See YouTube for videos of this extraordinarily thorough operation.) Any “bugs” will be found (I suspect none exist) and structural/wear problems will be identified and addressed during this process. I think it far more likely that hidden problems with the airframe could cause it to be rejected for use as AF1 than listening devices will be found (mostly because I don’t think there will be such devices on the aircraft).
trump is alwaysssss looking to save taxpayers money
but this plane thing is
do(d)ge-y
at best
How so?
This idiot can explain why but just has thing Fweeeling 😂😂
your siding with qatar and their cloak and dagger schemes
he is probably once again just fn with the left
and he is in fact proven that he wants to save the middle class
and with the acceptance of a gift comes the natural suspicion of politics
let qatar keep their plane and their appearance of friendship as they try to hide their 9 11 connections /support
I don’t suppose anyone has considered the possibility this is trolling.
There are all kinds of Middle East deals being rumored.
The WSJ did an article about this like 2 weeks ago.
They aren’t 3 years behind schedule.
They’re TEN YEARS behind schedule and billions over budget already.
The original contract said Boeing was supposed to deliver this year, and they said to the WSJ they wouldn’t be ready until 2035.
And who cares if Trump takes it or not? It’s totally aboveboard and being given to the US, not to Trump personally.
How many billions of OUR MONEY has Ukraine kicked back into politician personal accounts.
How many hundreds of millions did foreign governments funnel into the Clinton Foundation. How many millions of ‘art’ did Hunter sell. How many free luxury hotels and 5 star meals have Congresscritters accepted from foreign governments. How many foreign spies have scumbags like Swalwell screwed.
Frankly I’d be on board with him just taking it, having L3Harris refurbish it, and straight cancelling the Boeing contract.
There HAVE to be penalties for contractors that don’t deliver what was contracted at the price and timeline they said they could do. And we’re not talking about a tiny late or over. We’re talking about these projects going 5, 10+ years past and multiples of 3x, 5x, 10x over budget.
Government contracting is a JOKE at this point, but not a funny one.
But the press will say mean things!
Which is all “bad optics” really means.
its not about the msm as they hate us no matter what
its about integrity
If it is totes fine for Qatar to gift a ‘luxury plane’ then it is totes fine for Qatar to fund US Universities, think tanks, media organizations to influence their content or curriculum and import radicals to our midst to sow discord,.chaos and support for Hamas or radical.lefty goals.
Either both are OK or neither are OK. Choose one for yourself, but I say neither are OK.
(from 2024)
In July, 99.9% of the thousands of Boeing’s Machinist Union members voted to authorize a strike vote if needed, the union confirmed to KIRO Newsradio. The members met at T-Mobile Park to vote.
Sept. 10: Boeing machinists plan for a strike. Union leaders are asking for a 40% raise in pay, but union president Jon Holden told The Seattle Times the latest offer calls for a 25% increase instead, which Holden said is still the largest general pay wage increase they’ve ever seen.
Anyone else here alarmed about the dysfunctionality of the only remaining large aircraft manufacturer in the United States? If we are going to bring our manufacturing back home it’s not going to do us much good with idiots running things. Qatar is trolling our weakness out there for the world to see, because they can. Even considering having such a deceitful enemy provide us with transportation for our top leadership is f**king insane, and the Qataris will have the last laugh after they blow them out of the sky one day with the push of a button.
The only part that bothered me re: acceptance is the transfer of the plane to the Trump library foundation when Trump leaves office. Then a quick google informed me that gifts from foreign govts directed to the person of the president (as opposed to the office itself) if not retained by the person are routinely and often sent on to the presidential library in question.
Historically foreign govts have gifted “white elephant” items to the person before and they are usually accepted rather than give insult by rejection.
In this case the item has utility to make up for Boeing’s incompetence.
And, legally, by precedent (no pun) it may well by kosher.
Granted, a 400 million white elephant is not routine.
Is the plane still going to be in service after 2019 or is it going to be just a display item? If in service I could recommend a compromise – lease the plane from the library to the govt (say for $1 a year) to be returned for display once it’s retired from govt service. If they’re just going to park it at the library to bring in the tourists T gets no long-term personal benefit that he doesn’t get just from being in office.
Re: how Boeing is late and over budget – it happens all the time when business and govt interact. My first computer programming assignment for the Army was a site that faced similar delays – I was part of the THIRD cycle of workers assigned to the site to support hardware that had been supposed to be installed several years earlier. Congress being Congress the Army was required to purchase their hardware from a dozen different mainframe companies to spread the wealth among dozens of congressional districts. In the meantime the workers (like myself) were kept busy supporting a dozen different incompatible systems which all needed to interact correctly to support The Mission. Among the kludges to move data we had to use paper tape FGS.
Amusingly at least part of the delay was because when the initial purchase had been late Congress put the purchase on hold for two years so committees could investigate why the purchase was running late.
One must wonder how much influence can be gained by the donation of an outdated, nearly antiquated, aircraft, to a country and a POTUS both of which have access to many, more modern and sophisticated, aircraft, and when the POTUS himself is already independently wealthy and the owner of a more modern airliner.
Just buy the damn plane from Qatar and be done with it.
I know to the anti DOGE crowd spending $400 million when we don’t have to is a no brainer – but to the rest of us we’d just as well rather not spend govt money we don’t have to.
Whose anti DOGE??
Obtaining a new AF1 is a requirement. We’d be buying it from Boeing. Instead we’re buying from Qatar. No difference moneywise.
For a sleazebag who has spent an adult life covered in sleaze, sleazy deals like this are no concern.
I’m surprised even some of the cult see it. USually they excuse everything this sleazebag does.
You seem awfully familiar with sleaze. Does this mean your family reunions are now held annually?
Yes, just like the salmon do, and for the same reason.
He’s a real estate developer who flourished in Dem and union controlled NYC for decades.
When he first ran I fully expected him to be the usual crook you needed to be to go along to get along with that coruptocracy.
After a decade of forensic audits and prosecutions the worst they could come up with required them to ignore statutes of limitations, charge fraud where previously no fraud was previously found, charge for a weird definition of fraud in which the supposed victim wasn’t harmed and didn’t believe they were defrauded, charge a single case of arguably paperwork error – normally a misdemeanor at worst – as multiple felonies, and conduct a show trial where the jury and judge were both eager to convict from the get go.
Add to that that the prosecutor is now herself facing charges for fraudulent real estate loan paperwork where the errors in question were arguably no error but deliberate and actually financial harmed the bank and enriched herself – and Alanis Morresette please answer your phone.
“For a sleazebag who has spent an adult life covered in sleaze, sleazy deals like this are no concern.”
This post isn’t about you, dumbass.
It sure does not leave a good impression. However, I have a solution. Have Qatar give the jet to Boeing. Boeing could then refurbish it and present it to Trump. Either that or have the jet be given to ICE. “Deport in Luxury” could be a great way to get illegal entrants to self deport.
In all seriousness, it does certainly give Trump’s critics (both somber and deranged) too much glee. Maybe there is a way to work it that makes it clear there are no strings attached.
Give it to Boeing to refurbish? Under present conditions, Boeing would probably park it somewhere, then forget where they left it.
Well, I suppose they could hold a scavenger hunt.
“There! THERE it is! Right next to that 377 Stratocruiser! Yes, that one; the one for which Pan American still awaits delivery!”
unions tying up mgts ability to run the company is non stop
Airbus in Alabama doesn’t have the.same issues…. These long entrenched unions need to understand that the tariffs will accelerate foreign investment in domestic US production and it will be where these companies don’t have to deal.with union thugs and staged BS drama…IOW in the right to work States of the South where they already have a major presence and relationships with Gov’t, the workforce, suppliers and distribution.
See my comment elsewhere about Boeing moving production of the 787 to So Carolina.
Bribery through a third party is still bribery. If Boeing is desperate to give 400 million dollars to Donald Trump it could be done when he isn’t President of the United States.
Not Boeing, Danny, but thank you for playing.
Is it bad optics? Yes.
Would the Dems be claiming it was bad optics even if it wasn’t? Also yes.
This is absolutely true. You can’t go by what Democrats say. But in this case it really does look bad, even if it isn’t actually bad. We don’t need Democrats to spin it, it spins itself.
“I agree that the optics of accepting such a valuable gift from Qatar are not ideal. However, given the repeated delays in the government’s contract with Boeing, his administration’s transparency regarding the issue, assurances from the White House counsel and the attorney general of the gift’s legality, and the fact that Democrats will criticize Trump no matter what he does, it strikes me as a pragmatic solution.”
The sollution is to go five miles per hour slower with the Airforce One the United States Government uses today not take overtly corrupt bribes from Qatar.
This is Hunter Biden level corruption and it really has to stop.
Pam Bondi’s Qatar corruption was at least when not in office this is unjustifiable which is why Trump backed off.
The sollution is to go five miles per hour slower with the Airforce One the United States Government uses today
That has to be one of the dumber things you’ve said. And that’s saying something.
Please inform us how the gifting of an nearly antique aircraft to the government (not to Trump) will influence DJT, who already personally owns a far more modern aircraft and who has access access to a fleet of aircraft (with more “optional equipment”) already in the USAF inventory? Normally, to get something you want from someone, you must give that someone something he either doesn’t have or greatly desires. I don’t see an outdated, out-of-production, 2nd class aircraft being that gifted “something.” The 747 is desirable for use as an AF1 only because it has 4 engines and is American made. Otherwise, the POTUS would be flying in a more modern, twin engine Boeing, or in an Airbus A380 (to meet the 4 engine requirement).
Both the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy and the Boeing E-3 Sentry are 4 engine. Convert one temporarily. Might be enough space if you dump the press.
The other military plane that comes to mind is the B-52. Of course that would make heads explode if Trump was riding around in one of those.
The E-3 are all fairly old airframes and are being phased out (meaning there also aren’t enough of them right now to go around without taking one out of circulation).
There are no active duty C-5s left. They have all been replaced with the C-17.
Oh well. Thanks for the info. Yeah I knew about the E-3 upgrade but no the C-5 status,
Thank you me for playing.
I still like the B-52 idea although probably not enough room inside. The other 4 engine bomber available is the B1 but this is even smaller inside. Still he’d get where he’s going pretty fast on one.
Then why not use the C-17? Use a modern airframe not one that’s being phased out? AF1 should showcase the latest American technology, and CINC should have the advantages of all the latest avionics etc. in his transport.
Seriously, why the 747? It was frankly a weird looking plane, and it failed a competition against the C-5 for military use. Now we use the old failure yet again instead of the latest and greatest?
or if he’s going to use a foreign aircraft, use a A380 and have all that space. A much greater flying palace would be possible. Although it can land at fewer airports.
C5 is the plane that beat the 747 in a competition for a military transport. That’s why the 747 was redeveloped as a commercial aircraft. Actually AF1 and AF2 should be C5’s, given the presidency’s command over the military.
Think of that big open cargo bay, it could be the ballroom Trump so desperately wants to build in the WH (tearing out what?), a real palace in the sky. And most importantly, not a bribe from Qatar.
I think this would be as big a tweak as the Pope Donald Joseph mashup picture.
Get this one out of the museum and fly in it! Beautiful, built like a tank, and with noise that is music to my ears!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbine_II
PS: Keep the name Columbine to get the anti-gunners revved to maximum. They already hate Trump anyway.
I think the Connie is the most beautiful prop-driven aircraft ever made. I saw one of them fly at an airshow many years ago (this one: https://www.conniesurvivors.com/pictures/scanhhnmatsconniesidesh.jpg) and later saw the Breitling Super Constellation (https://imgproc.airliners.net/photos/airliners/3/8/7/1948783.jpg) fly overhead in the Puget Sound area (must have been going to a show somewhere).
I saw them flying in commercial service, back around 1960. Back before Philadelphia Airport became crowded, we’d sit in the restaurant and watch them land and take off. They aren’t really very big, but they sure look nice. Then there were the new jets, 707’s and DC8’s.
The 737 uses the same fuselage from the 707. It looked better in the 707, and now it’s really really long in the tooth. No wonder when they try to use it in the modern context, they get abortions like the 737 MAX.
American made, American owned, and no room for the lefty press.
I don’t know why we are flying the same damn press all over the place with Trump. Let them get themselves to places, or let other journalists at the destinations cover him. Let’s hear some other voices, that he doesn’t know and doesn’t have a “working relationship” with.
Trojan Horse? Wouldn’t be the first.
Gift plane? Gulf of Arabia? Unnecessary self inflicted nonsense. FOCUS ON THE DAMN PRIORITIES!!@!
I never thought I’d be agreeing with Adam Schiff and Jamie Raskin, but I do. This stinks to high heaven, it is an obvious bribe, and Boeing being behind schedule is no excuse at all. So what? There are many other aircraft that could fly the president around. The German chancellor flies commercial I think. There is no reason POTUS needs a palace in the sky, or to bring the press with him, or any of that.
Trump is flipping, just like he flipped on the J6 protesters for the first couple years he was out of office.
This is not good look for president to accept “gifts” from foreign nations or their leaders. Regarding qatar in particular it provides banking services to hamas. There on rules regulating foreign gifts.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1195740/How-Bush-Condoleezza-got-exquisite-gifts-Arab-leaders–warehouse.html
Complaints about this awesome free gift is pure left-wing poppycock.
Presidents accepting gifts from foreign powers is regulated to preserve the integrity of the office.
Despite the precedent of the United States’ accepting the Statue of Liberty from France, I think the Trump administration should decline the offer. Too many important and unresolved issues exist where decisions by the U.S. government could significantly affect Qatar. If we do accept the offer, the plane should never go to President Trump’s presidential library. That would rightly be viewed as benefiting Mr. Trump personally and would raise serious concerns that he would tend to act, as President, in ways that would unduly benefit Qatar.
Besides, France, which was our partner and essential supporter in the Revolutionary War, is much different from Qatar. A place the Barbary pirates may have come from, but certainly not ever before an ally of ours.