The Qatar Airplane Deal and the Trade-Off Between the United States and the EU: Trump’s Campaign against the Dems is a World Class Loser

The Trump administration is in talks with the Qatari government about accepting a luxury Boeing 747 airplane, a senior White House official said, that could temporarily serve as Air Force One.

The offer, which was first reported by ABC News, comes on the eve of Trump’s visit to the Middle East. The president is scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

There is still a lot of unknown about the deal, as well as the particulars of the plane. It is not clear when the transaction would occur or how long it will take for the plane to be ready for the president. Both Briffault and Libowitz said it would presumably need to be checked in great detail, both for structural integrity and potential tracking or listening devices.

He wrote: “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. Anybody can do that! The Dems are World Class Losers!!!”

The White House spokeswoman said that any gift given by a foreign government is always in line with the law.

The next generation of Air Force One was the subject of a deal struck by Trump in his first term. Under the terms of that deal, Trump agreed to pay $3.9 billion for two custom-made planes. But the president has expressed frustration about the time the beleaguered aircraft manufacturer is taking to deliver the aircraft.

CREW sued Trump during his first term, arguing that he was illegally “getting cash and favors from foreign governments, through guests and events at his hotels, leases in his buildings, and valuable real estate deals abroad.” The case made it to the Supreme Court, but was dismissed after he left office.

“We have never seen something on this level before, and especially when you add in his government or his personal business in the country, it raises significant red flags,” he says.

The Donald Trump Organization and Qatar’s Golf Resort: Is It Worth Taking a Government Vacation? An Expert Comment on “Trump Plane Gift Ethics”

Presidents are usually required to keep gifts they receive from the U.S. government if they want to keep them.

“He is obviously trying to make money there, and that makes it a lot more difficult for us,” Libowitz says. Is America’s best interest being served, or is the best interest of the Trump Organization?

The Trump Organization has not pledged to avoid doing deals with private companies abroad during Trump’s second term, which was more active than his first. In April, it was announced that the company would build a golf resort in the state of Qatar.

The gift is especially concerning because of the president’s personal business dealings in the Gulf and in Qatar, says the vice president of communications for the nonprofit watchdog.

An immediate review by the US Government Accountability Office, the Department of Defense inspector general, and the Office of Government Ethics is what Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-NY, has requested.

He wrote that American people are watching a “flying grift” in real time. Unless the line is drawn here, there will be no line left to draw.

It is up to the government to give an opinion on whether the gift is in violation of federal ethics regulations, and to recommend reforms which would prevent a president from taking foreign gifts into private property.

But Briffault says the only way Congress can prevent the gift — or reprimand Trump afterward — is by impeaching him, which seems unlikely given Republicans’ control of both chambers.

Briffault says Trump has ignored many of the existing guardrails on the presidency — from firing over a dozen inspectors general of federal agencies to ousting the head of the Office of Government Ethics.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called Trump’s plan “premium foreign influence with extra legroom.”

Source: Ethics experts worry about the implications of Trump accepting Qatar’s luxury plane

A Possible Transfer of the Aircraft from Qatari Ministry of Defense to the U.S. Department of Defense: Report to the Associated Press

Ronald Reagan, who was president at the time, has a plane at his presidential library in California. The Associated Press reported in March that Trump’s team was scouting Florida locations for a potential presidential library.

Ali Al Ansari, the media Attache to the U.S, told NPR in a statement on Monday that the possible transfer of the aircraft from Qatari Ministry of Defense to U.S. Department of Defense remains under review.