Qatar gifts a $400M jet for Air Force One after the administration asked to buy it
The Defense Department formally accepted a Boeing 747 from Qatar, reported value ~$400M, for Trump to use as Air Force One.
What happened
The Trump administration first approached Qatar about buying the plane; the discussion later evolved into Qatar providing it as a gift, and Qatar asked that the memorandum of understanding state that the transfer was initiated by the Trump administration (The Washington Post, 2025-05-28). The White House called it "a sovereign-to-sovereign gift to the U.S. Air Force." The jet arrived at Joint Base Andrews on June 19, 2026 (NPR). The retrofit to make it fit for the president is its own receipt, money-2025-06-05-101. Reporting in May 2025 (ABC News, via Euronews) said ownership would transfer to the foundation overseeing his presidential library after his term; The New York Times reported that the White House and the Justice Department signed an unpublished memo asserting the gift and its transfer to the library were legal. Asked in May 2025 whether he would take the jet for his own use after leaving office, Trump said: "It would go directly to the library after I leave office. I wouldn't be using it. No." That plan may now change. In August 2026 Eric Trump, who is developing the library, told NBC News it was "not the plan at the moment" to bring the Qatari jet there, and a White House official, speaking anonymously, said no final decision had been made about which plane will go to the library (The New York Times, 2026-08-05).
Why it matters
The administration went to Qatar about buying the jet, and it arrived as a $400M gift from a foreign government, for the president's use and, under a White House counsel memo, for his presidential library foundation after he leaves office. The White House says no final decision has been made about which plane goes to the library.
Sources
The Associated Press (2025-05-21, https://apnews.com/article/trump-qatar-air-force-one-gift-plane-c4e1d73c3dbe18397c10e3d3d267bcd6); Euronews (the AP relay, 2025-05-21); NPR (2026-06-19, https://www.npr.org/2026/06/19/nx-s1-5864503/air-force-one-trump-qatar); The New York Times (2026-08-05, https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/05/us/trump-air-force-one-qatar-library.html), washingtonpost.com, apnews.com