President Donald Trump will be reportedly receiving gifts from the ruling family of Katar during his trip to the Middle East this week, and will receive a 747-8 giant jet as a gift that U.S. officials can convert the plane into a potential presidential plane.
ABC News reported that Trump will use the plane as a new version of Air Force One until shortly before he left office in January 2029, ownership will be transferred to the foundation responsible for the presidential library he has not yet established.
When Trump visited Qatar as part of his trip, the gift was expected to be announced, which also included parking in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the first foreign trip in his second term. The Katari government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday night.
ABC said government officials have prepared an analysis that it is legal to see the president accepting such a big gift from foreign governments. The Emer's clause of the Constitution, Article 1, Article 9, Article 8, prohibits any person holding a government office from accepting any gift from “king, prince or foreign” Scotland, office or ownership without the consent of Congress.
Trump intends to transform the Qatar plane into a plane he can fly in the president, and the Air Force plans to add secure communications and other confidential elements to it.
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But it still has more limited capabilities than existing aircraft and other aircraft currently under construction, according to a former U.S. official, which anonymously on Sunday's condition on anonymity on the yet-to-be-disclosed plan.
The existing aircraft used as Air Force One made a series of unexpected viability for the president, including radiation shielding and rebound technology, which made significant changes to the president. They also include various communication systems that enable the president to keep in touch with the military and issue orders from anywhere in the world.
The official told the Associated Press that some countermeasures and communication systems could be quickly added to the Katari aircraft, but it is not as capable as existing Air Force one aircraft or a long-term delay alternative.
Neither the Katari aircraft nor the upcoming VC-25B aircraft will have the air-to-air refueling capabilities of the current VC-25A aircraft, the aircraft the president is currently flying, the official said.
The Air Force One is a modified Boeing 747. There are two, and the President hikes in both, both of which are over 30 years old. Boeing signed a contract to produce a newer version, but delivery was delayed when the company lost billions of dollars in projects.
Delivery of the second aircraft has been pushed to some time in 2027, and in 2028 (Trump's last year in office) it has been pushed to the second aircraft.
The new plane is similar to a 13-year-old Boeing plane, Trump toured in February, and the plane was parked at Palm Beach International Airport, where he spent the weekend at his Mar-A-Lago club, according to ABC.
Trump's family business, now run primarily by his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, has extensive and growing interest in the Middle East. This includes a new deal to set up a luxury golf resort in Qatar and work with Katari Diar, a real estate company backed by the country’s sovereign wealth fund.
Qatar is ruled by the Al Thani family and is home to the state-owned airline Qatar Airways. Trump apparently supported Doha in four Arab countries in his first semester, which also established close ties with Trump. Trump applauded Qatar later in his tenure.
Government officials’ policy interests towards the president are linked to the ambiguity of family business profits. They noted that Trump's assets are trust funds managed by his children, and a voluntary ethics agreement issued by the Trump Organization in January prohibited the company from directly reaching a crackdown deal with foreign governments.
However, the same agreement allows transactions with private companies abroad. This runs contrary to Trump's first term, when the organization issued a code of ethics that prohibits foreign governments and foreign companies from trading.
When asked whether the president might have a connection with his family’s business on his upcoming trip Friday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said it was “ridiculous” to suggest Trump “do anything for his own benefit.”
& Copy 2025 Associated Press
