The Trump administration plans to accept a luxury plane Boeing 747-8 as a donation of the Royal Qatar family that will be updated to serve Air Force One, in possible the greatest foreign gift ever recently recreated by the matter, a senior.
Then, the plane will be donated to the presidential library of President Trump when he leaves the position, said the official, which allowed him to continue using him as a private citizen.
The plan poses substantial ethical problems, given the immense value of the luxurious plane and the fact that Trump plans to use it after leaving the position. It was sold new, a commercial Boeing 747-8 costs in the range of $ 400 million.
Trump’s own private plane, known as “Trump Force One”, is an older 757 plane that flew for the first time in the early 1990s and then the co -founder of Microsoft Paul Allen. Trump bought it in 2011. The Jet Qatar, if Trump continues to fly after leaving office, would give him a newer substantial plane for his own use.
The plan, previously reported by ABC News, is expected to be announced in the next few days, since Trump will make the first Voice Tour of its presidency to three nations in the Middle East, including Qatar. It will fulfill the president of a new Air Force, after repeated delays that involve a government contract with Boeing for two new aircraft to fulfill that purpose.
Trump toured 747, owned by Qatar, which has approximately a decade, while it was parked at Palm Beach International Airport in February. The New York Times reported that the plane was being considered as a possible new Air Force One.
The plane donated by Qatar is expected to be modernized by a military contractor named L3harris, in Texas, and that work can start the government approves how the plane is being purchased, said the official. It is expected that it is finished equipped with military capabilities by the end of the year, said the official, allowing Trump to use it while he was in office.
A White House spokesman did not respond to a request for comments.
An official of the Department of Defense said on Sunday that the Air Force has not yet reached anyway with a contract to restore the Qatari 747 to make the necessary security improvements and modifications for AF1, and the owners of the Air Force score Ethe until it.
Assuming that happened, said the official, he would still take a prolonged period of time complete the contract and, more importantly, make real updates and modifications.
“We are talking about years, not months,” said the Department of Defense, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss delicate details about a future Air Force One.
The model that the government is using to address the ethical issues raised by the donation, said the official, is followed by the presidential library of President Ronald Reagan when he retired to the Air Force that flew after he retired. But at that time, Mr. Reagan did not use the plane to fly around. He was installed in the part of the museum of his library.
Another person with knowledge of the effort to acquire the plane said that the Qataris had initially offered to donate it immediately to Trump’s library, and then make Trump use it while he was in office. But government lawyers said it would be a violation of the Emoluments clause of the Constitution, said the person.
The current plan has been signed by government lawyers who concluded that it does not violate the Emoluments clause of the Constitution and that the Department of Defense can accept the gift, said the official.
Eric Schmitt Contributed reports.
