Air Force One is the Boeing 747 plane used by the President of the United States, specially outfitted with all kinds of security measures. It’s like “the Beast,” which is the armored limousine used by the president. Because AFO and the Beast are vital pieces for how the president travels, they’re always American-made, and the Secret Service works alongside the American manufacturers to customize the security features. Well, not in the Trump era. In the Trump era, Qatar gets to provide their own Boeing to Trump so he can use it as Air Force One.
The Trump administration plans to accept a luxury Boeing 747-8 plane as a donation from the Qatari royal family that will be upgraded to serve as Air Force One, which would make it one of the biggest foreign gifts ever received by the U.S. government, several American officials with knowledge of the matter said.
The plane would then be donated to President Trump’s presidential library when he leaves office, two senior officials said. Such a gift raises the possibility that Mr. Trump would have use of the plane even after his presidency ends.
Mr. Trump confirmed the fact that he anticipates receiving the plane in a post on social media on Sunday evening, after a day of controversy in which even some Republicans privately questioned the wisdom of the plan. Mr. Trump suggested that Democrats were “losers” for questioning the ethics of the move.
“So the fact that the Defense Department is getting a GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE, of a 747 aircraft to replace the 40 year old Air Force One, temporarily, in a very public and transparent transaction, so bothers the Crooked Democrats that they insist we pay, TOP DOLLAR, for the plane,” Mr. Trump wrote. “Anybody can do that! The Dems are World Class Losers!!!”
While a Qatari official described the proposal as still under discussion and the White House said that gifts it accepted would be done in full compliance with the law, Democratic lawmakers and good government groups expressed outrage over the substantial ethical issues the plan presented. They cited the intersection of Mr. Trump’s official duties with his business interests in the Middle East, the immense value of the lavishly appointed plane and the assumption that Mr. Trump would have use of it after leaving office. Sold new, a commercial Boeing 747-8 costs in the range of $400 million.
“Even in a presidency defined by grift, this move is shocking,” said Robert Weissman, a co-president of Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy organization. “It makes clear that U.S. foreign policy under Donald Trump is up for sale.”
ABC News reported Sunday morning that the gift of the plane was to be announced in the coming days as Mr. Trump made the first extended foreign trip of his presidency to three nations in the Middle East, including Qatar. The plan would fulfill the president’s desire for a new Air Force One after repeated delays involving a government contract to Boeing for two new jets to serve that purpose.
My favorite part of this is “the Crooked Democrats that they insist we pay, TOP DOLLAR, for the plane. Anybody can do that!” Yes, “anybody” can pay top dollar for an American-made, American-manufactured plane with extensive security upgrades to protect a POTUS. The reason American taxpayers “pay” top dollar for Air Force One is because AFO is a huge terrorist target and we want to know that no other government or group got their hands on AFO at any point. Like, this isn’t just flagrantly, shockingly and offensively unethical, it’s actually a huge security issue! Not that I actually care about the security issues right now, but still.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
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- United States President Donald J Trump, flanked by Jay Bhattacharya, Director, National Institutes of Health (NIH), center, and United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, right, signs a series of executive orders related to health care in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC USA, 05 May 2025. Trump said he would soon make an announcement on health care that would be ‘more related to costs, the costs of medicine and drugs.’ Pictured: Donald Trump, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. BACKGRID USA 5 MAY 2025 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- United States President Donald J Trump, flanked by Jay Bhattacharya, Director, National Institutes of Health (NIH), center, and United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, right, signs a series of executive orders related to health care in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC USA, 05 May 2025. Trump said he would soon make an announcement on health care that would be ‘more related to costs, the costs of medicine and drugs.’ Pictured: Donald Trump BACKGRID USA 5 MAY 2025 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
Is it going to be thoroughly swept for hidden cameras, microphones and tracking devices? Shouldn’t a “gift” this valuable belong to the government afterward and not to him personally? Can you imagine the uproar if Biden had accepted a gift this valuable and announced he would keep it at his library afterward?
It doesn’t really matter if the plane is bugged when both the President and the DNI are Russian assets and the entire Cabinet is using Signal (and its unsecured clones) to communicate with each other.
This would all be over tomorrow if there were 10 Congressional Republicans with enough backbone to impeach.
Wouldn’t really be over though, because JD would be up next.
@somebody, they would have to impeach them both… and Mike Johnson, as well.
Honestly, I’d rather have him focused on his plane than anything else. I hope he spends the next year working on customized designs for the gold accessories.
Yes, but is he going to tariff it upon delivery to protect American industries and jobs?
Excellent point, but you know none of the rules apply to him. Thank SCOTUS for that immunity ruling …
I know I’m just screaming into the void at this point, but imagine Joe Biden accepting a 400 million dollar Qatari gift jet on his way to his 100 million dollar military birthday parade. The nakedness of his corruption knows no bounds.
As Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton had to turn down a $400 necklace.
Also, I read yesterday that the plane will need to be retrofitted for security purposes and that will take a year. He’ll be halfway through this term before he gets it and then he’ll gift it to himself.
Pam Bondi has done legal work in the past for Qatar.
Ethics violations abounding
The Air Force is paying for the retrofit aka the taxpayers. Waste, fraud, and abuse, amirite?
But, but, but, HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP 😂😂
It’s maddening, FancyPants.
The scale of the grift just keeps expanding and he has a get-out-of-jail-free card from John Roberts, so there will be no consequences. And that’s so depressing.
Seriously, WTF!
Nothing is shocking anymore. That’s part of the reason he gets away with so much 💩 that would destroy a normal president. It’s shock and awe 24/7 with this freak. He commits 100 impeachable offenses before breakfast and congressional Republicans just shrug. Personally, I don’t give a f**k about the security upgrades. Let the terrorists do their best as long as he’s in it.
Gee, I sure don’t hope the Qataris missed any safety inspections on their plane. Nope. Don’t wish for that at all.
Yeah, my first thought was: “What a huge security risk!” My second thought was:”Hmmmm.🤔”
Sadly, I didn’t even bother to think about criminality and grift, since at this point, with Trump, that’s a given.
Right?
It’s not like the 747 is a new model. They’re no longer being built, and Boeing has replaced it with planes that are, among other things, more fuel-efficient, less noisy, lighter, less costly to run, regular maintenance checks included.
Fuel efficiency and noise reduction are, among other factors, the reason many heads of states have switched to the newest Airbus models, which are more customizable than Boeings, and also seem have to have a higher safety standard.
(Of course a US president couldn’t switch to Airbus for AFO just like that, although they do have a factory with a final assembly line in Mobile, AL.)
Hopefully it falls from the sky with all his idiots on board.
Over the ocean. The deepest part.
And the whales given a heads up beforehand, so they can get out of the way. Sharks, too, so they can do the cleanup.
Several reporter slots had to be eliminated and the whole interior rejiggered to allow for Trump’s 2nd floor gold toilet…
No loose bolts there, eh Boeing?
The modern Trojan Horse?
What is there to say, grift, graft, peddling influence, etc. 400 million dollars. And Eric made a
“golf deal” with that country worth 5 billion dollars. When Trump was president in his first term, Ivanka got about 2 billion dollars from China. And being such a Trump ASSHOLE, he BRAGS about it like it was a great coup and insults Democrats for not doing the same. It’s like shooting someone on Fifth Avenue, but with a plane. There is absolutely NOTHING he can’t do. He is above the Constitution–we might as well just rip it up since we’re no longer a democracy.
Did trump never hear of a saying called, “no such thing as a free lunch?”