Washington (AP)-President Donald Trump would be ready to accept a luxury Boeing 747-8 Jumbo as a gift from the leading family of Qatar during his trip to the Middle East next week, and American officials say that he could be converted into potential presidential plane.
The Qatari government has recognized the discussions between the two countries on the “possible transfer” of an airplane to be used temporarily like Trump Air Force One, but denied that the jet “is offered” or that a final had been made of decision.
ABC News reported that Trump would use the plane on his presidential plane until a time before he left his duties in January 2029, when the property was transferred to the foundation supervising his presidential library still to be built.
The donation was to be announced when Trump visits Qatar, according to the ABC report, as part of a trip which also includes judgments in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the first prolonged foreign trip to its second term.
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But a few hours after the news, Ali Al-Ansari, attaché from the Qatar media, said in a statement: “Reports that a jet is offered by Qatar to the US government during the next visit to President Trump is inaccurate.”
“The possible transfer of an aircraft for temporary use as Force One is currently being studied between the Ministry of Defense of Qatar and the US Defense Ministry,” the statement said. “But the case remains under examination by the respective legal services, and no decision has been made.”
Meanwhile, administration officials, anticipating questions about the president accepting such a gift from a foreign government, have prepared an analysis arguing that this would be legal, according to ABC.
The pronouncement clause of the Constitution prohibits anyone who occupies a post of government to accept any present, emolument, office or title of “king, prince or foreign state”, without consent of the congress.
An expert in government ethics, Kathleen Clark of the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, accused Trump of “determining the power of the federal government, not on behalf of political objectives, but to raise personal wealth”.
“It’s scandalous,” said Clark. “Trump thinks he will fade.”
The head of the Senate minority, Chuck Schumer, had fun in Trump’s “America First” political slogan.
“Nothing says” America first “like Air Force One, brought by Qatar,” said New York Democrat in a press release. “It’s not just corruption, it is a superior foreign influence with an additional leg space.”
Air Force One is a modified Boeing 747. Two exist and the president steals on both, which are over 30 years old. Boeing Inc. has the updated versions production contract, but delivery has been delayed while the company has lost billions of dollars on the project.
The delivery was pushed to a certain time in 2027 for the first plane and in 2028 – the last full year of Trump – for the second.
Trump intends to convert the Qatari aircraft into an airplane on which he can fly as president, the Air Force providing to add secure communications and other classified elements. But it will always have more limited capacities than the existing planes that have been built to serve as an Air Force One, as well as two other planes currently under construction, according to a former American official.
The manager was informed of the plane and spoke on Sunday under the guise of anonymity to discuss the plans that have not yet been made public.
The existing planes used as Air Force One are strongly modified with survival capacities for the president for a range of contingencies, in particular the shielding of radiation and anti -missile technology. They also include a variety of communication systems to allow the president to stay in touch with the military and to issue orders from anywhere in the world.
The official told the Associated Press that it would be possible to quickly add countermeasures and communication systems to the Qatari aircraft, but that it would be less capable than the existing Air Airplane of Force One or long-term replacements.
Neither the Qatari plane nor the next VC-25B plane will have the air supply capacities of the current VC-25A plane, which is the one on which the president is currently flying, said the official.
ABC said the new plane was similar to a 13-year-old Boeing plane that Trump had toured in February, when he was parked at Palm Beach International Airport and spent the weekend in his Mar-A-Lago club.
Trump faced prosecution for violation of the Emoluments clause during his first mandate, but these were completed by the Supreme Court in 2021, which found that the affairs took place because Le Républicain had left his functions.
Clark said that the reported Qatari Don is the “logical consequence, inevitable and unhappy of the Congress and the Supreme Court refusing to apply” the Emoluments clause.
Trump’s family business, the Trump organization, which is now widely led by his sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, has vast and growing interests in the Middle East. This includes a new agreement to build a luxury golf station in Qatar, in partnership with Qatari Diar, a real estate company supported by the sovereign heritage fund of this country.
Qatar, which is governed by the Al Thani family, houses the state airline Qatar Airways. The country also worked to have a close relationship with Trump after apparently supporting a boycott of Doha by four Arab nations during its first mandate. Trump later in his term applauded Qatar.
Administration officials have rejected concerns about the president’s political interests blurring with the family’s trade benefits. They note that Trump’s assets are in a trust managed by his children and that a voluntary ethical agreement published by the Trump organization in January prohibits the company from concluding agreements directly with foreign governments.
But this same agreement allows agreements with private companies abroad. This is a departure from Trump’s first mandate, when the organization published an ethics pact prohibiting both foreign government and foreign affairs.
The white house press secretary Karoline Leavitt asked on Friday if the president could meet people who have links with his family affairs, said that he was “ridiculous” to suggest that Trump “does anything for his own advantage”.
The writer Associated Press Christine Fernando in Chicago and Jon Gambrell in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates contributed to this report.
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