By Josh Dawsey and Tarini Parti

President Trump's administration is in talks with the Qatari government about accepting a luxury Qatari plane for his use as president and potentially beyond, according to people familiar with the matter.

Under the potential arrangement, which is raising legal and ethical concerns, the plane owned by the Qatari royal family would be used as Air Force One while Trump is in office after being retrofitted by a U.S. defense contractor. The U.S. wouldn't pay for the luxury 747-style jumbo jet. It may then be gifted to the Trump presidential library for Trump to use after he leaves office, the people said.

ABC News earlier reported on the potential of the plane being gifted, and a senior Trump administration official said the president expected the plane to be a gift. The Qatari government, however, said the matter was still under discussion.

"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 US Department of Defense, but the matter remains under review by the respective legal departments, and no decision has been made," said Ali Al-Ansari, Qatar's media attaché to the U.S.

Trump is expected to visit Qatar this week.

"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," White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said.

The senior administration official said Qatar had offered the plane as a gift to the Department of Defense, but the gift won't be presented or accepted this week.

Administration lawyers reviewed the arrangement with the Qatari government and concluded it was legal, the administration official said.

The pending arrangement follows years of frustration from Trump over the delays on Boeing's work to deliver a new Air Force One. In his first term, Trump commissioned two new presidential planes to replace a pair of aging jets. They are among the world's most complex aircraft, with communications and defensive systems that serve as a command and control platform for the commander in chief.

Boeing won the $3.9 billion contract and at one point was expected to have the planes ready by last year. But it is now years behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget, after a series of supplier, engineering and manufacturing setbacks.

Trump spent more than an hour touring a Qatari-owned 747 in West Palm Beach, Fla., in February and said afterward that he might buy a new plane. "I'm not happy with Boeing," he said.

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that the U.S. government commissioned L3Harris, a smaller defense contractor, to overhaul a Boeing 747 formerly used by the Qatari government. The Melbourne, Fla.-based company is tasked with retrofitting the plane with certain specialized systems to transform the luxury aircraft into a presidential jet.

When asked about the plane on April 30 by the Journal, the Qatari government declined to answer questions about whether they were gifting or selling the plane to the United States. "I have no information on that matter," an embassy official said at the time.

The Qataris have long run an aggressive influence operation in Washington, throwing pricey dinners and parties for administration and congressional officials, flying congressional staff to Doha, Qatar, for Formula One races and other events and hiring some of the city's priciest lobbyists.

That Trump is making one of his first visits as president to Qatar this week is a win for the country, which has faced criticism for its human-rights record and had long harbored the leaders of Hamas. The country is economically important to the U.S. for its gas-rich territory, and is viewed as a non-NATO ally.

Democrats and good-government groups criticized the pending deal.

"Nothing says 'America First' like Air Force One, brought to you by Qatar," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) posted on X. "It's not just bribery, it's premium foreign influence with extra legroom."

Robert Weissman, co-president of watchdog group Public Citizen, said if Trump accepted the jet as a gift, it would violate the U.S. Constitution's emoluments clause. That prevents officeholders from accepting anything of value from foreign states without the permission of Congress.

"The concern with foreign gifts is that they can sway a president's policy and predilections -- and there's little doubt that Qatar wants to gift Trump a 'palace in the sky' for exactly that reason," Weissman said.

Write to Josh Dawsey at Joshua.Dawsey@WSJ.com and Tarini Parti at tarini.parti@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 11, 2025 16:17 ET (20:17 GMT)

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