The US has formally accepted a luxury jet that Qatar offered as a gift to President Donald Trump to use as his new Air Force One plane.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth formally accepted the Boeing 747 worth an estimated $400million, and the Air Force has been asked to quickly upgrade it to securely carry Trump.
‘The secretary of defense has accepted a Boeing 747 from Qatar in accordance with all federal rules and regulations,’ stated Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell on Wednesday afternoon.
‘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’s announcement comes after Trump during his Middle East trip last week said it would be ‘stupid’ to turn down Qatar’s gift.
‘Why should our military, and therefore our taxpayers, be forced to pay hundreds of millions of Dollars when they can get it for FREE,’ Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
The US president dismissed ethical concerns from Democrats and Republicans alike that taking the jet from the Qatari royal family could be a form of bribery. Lawmakers also feared that the plane could have hidden devices to record Trump and his officials’ conversations.
Trump at the White House on Wednesday confirmed that the US has accepted the jet.
‘They’re giving the United States Air Force a jet, and it’s a great thing,’ said Trump, adding that Qatar offered it ‘so they could help us out’.
Trump said that ‘Boeing’s a little late, unfortunately’.
For years, Boeing has been working to retrofit two 747s into Air Force One planes, but the project has been marred with delays and the timeline has been pushed back to the end of Trump’s term.
The 13-year-old Qatari plane requires extensive work to meet safety and security requirements to fly Trump. The Pentagon has not said how long it may take to complete the jetliner, but the White House said Trump would like it as soon as the end of this year, The New York Times reported.
On Tuesday, Qatar’s prime minister denied that the gift was to curry favor with the Trump administration.
‘I call it an exchange between two countries. And basically the relationship that we have between Qatar and the United States is a very institutional relationship,’ said Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani.
‘The plane story is a ministry of defense to department of defense transaction, which is basically done in full transparency and very legally, and it’s part of the cooperation that we’ve been always doing together for decades.’
On Sunday, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy called the gift ‘the definition of corruption’. Several Democrats have introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives calling on Trump to provide plans for the jet complying with the Foreign Emoluments Clause.
