Washington — The Defense Department said Wednesday it has accepted a Boeing jet from Qatar that will be retrofitted and used to transport President Trump.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth accepted the Boeing 747 “in accordance with all federal rules and regulations.”
“The Department of Defense will work to ensure proper security measures and functional-mission requirements are considered for an aircraft used to transport the President of the United States,” Parnell said.
The New York Times first reported that the Pentagon had accepted the jetliner from the government of Qatar.
“As directed by the Secretary of Defense, the Air Force is preparing to award a contract to modify a Boeing 747 aircraft for executive airlift. Details related to the contract are classified,” a spokesperson for the Air Force said in a statement.
Hegseth’s acceptance of the plane comes days after sources confirmed to CBS News that the Qatari royal family would be donating aircraft for Mr. Trump’s use. The gift was first reported by ABC News. Valued at $400 million, the jumbo jet will be donated to Mr. Trump’s future presidential library just before he leaves office.
Mr. Trump told reporters last week that the Qataris are “giving us a gift” and lamented that the current plane used for Air Force One is nearly four decades old. When the president is aboard either of the two Boeing aircrafts that are part of the presidential air transport fleet, its call sign is “Air Force One,” according to the Air Force.
“If we can get a 747 as a contribution to our Defense Department to use during a couple of years while they’re building the other ones, I think that was a very nice gesture,” Mr. Trump said. “Now I could be a stupid person and say, oh no, we don’t want a free plane.”
The president has continued to defend the notion of receiving the plane from Qatar, writing on social media that the Boeing jet is being given to the Defense Department, and is a gift that will be used as a “temporary Air Force One” until new Boeing planes arrive.
“Why should our military, and therefore our taxpayers, be forced to pay hundreds of millions of Dollars when they can get it for FREE from a country that wants to reward us for a job well done. This big savings will be spent, instead, to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! Only a FOOL would not accept this gift on behalf of our Country,” he wrote last week.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also reiterated Monday that the plane is a donation to the nation and the Air Force.
“The government of Qatar, Qatari family, has offered to donate this plane to the United States Air Force, where that donation will be accepted according to all legal and ethical obligations,” she said. “It will be retrofitted to the highest of standards by the Department of Defense and the United States Air Force. This plane is not a personal donation or a gift to the president of the United States.”
Still, news of the gift raised concerns among members of Congress and questions of whether the transaction complied with federal ethics rules.
Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres of New York sent a letter last week to three internal government watchdogs asking them to conduct an ethics review of the gift and issue an advisory opinion on whether it violates federal ethics regulations and the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause, which bars federal officials from accepting gifts from foreign nations.
“The American presidency is not a personal inheritance. It does not exist to enrich Donald Trump,” he wrote. “It belongs to ‘We the People.’ If we fail to draw the line here, there may soon be no line left to draw.”
Some Republicans, too, have expressed unease with the gift from the Qatari government. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said last week that there are “lots of issues associated with that offer,” which he said should be discussed further.
Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri said that while he understands the need for a new Air Force One, “I’d love to have a big, beautiful jet that’s built in the United States of America.” Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina warned “everybody needs to know that Air Force One is not like every other Boeing.”
“It’s going to have to be put through a lot of paces and probably every square inch analyzed before I think the president should consider it as a primary means of transportation,” he said.
The secretary of the Air Force, Troy Meink, who was only confirmed last week, told Congress on Tuesday that the Air Force had already started looking into what modifications would be required to retrofit the jet.
“The secretary of defense has directed the Air Force to basically start planning to modify the aircraft. We are postured to do that,” Meink told Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, who asked about the potential security concerns of such a transfer.
Meink said turning any civilian aircraft to Air Force One standards “will take significant modifications.”
Cristina Corujo and
contributed to this report.
