The Trump Flying Plane: Is It Really a Gift To The U.S.? A Comment on Trump’s Frustrated Campaign on Air Force One Delivery

The president has expressed frustration about the long-delayed delivery of two upgraded Air Force One jets from Boeing, dating back to a 2018 contract. He told reporters that he had been offered a replacement to use.

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.

Richard Briffault, a Columbia Law School professor who specializes in government ethics, says that distinction doesn’t matter: If the plane goes to Trump’s presidential library after he leaves office, “then it’s not really a gift to the United States at all.”

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!!!”

Karoline Leavitt, the White House spokeswoman, said that any “gift given by a foreign government is always accepted in full compliance with all applicable laws.”

The Trump administration struck a deal with Boeing to build the next generation of Air Force One. Trump agreed to pay almost $4 billion for two custom-made jumbo jets. The president is frustrated by the time the 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 was dismissed by the Supreme Court 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 National Archives’ Flying Grift: Can Congress Protect Foreign Gifts? Rep. Ritchie Torres and the U.S. Department of Defense and the Office of Government Ethics

Presidents typically receive gifts like cufflinks and bottles of wine, Libowitz says, and are required to turn such gifts over to the U.S. government — generally the National Archives — unless they pay fair market value to keep them.

“It is obvious that he is trying to make money there, and that puts us in an uncomfortable situation.” “Is America’s best interest being served, or is it the best interests of the Trump Organization?”

Unlike his first term, the Trump Organization did not make a pledge to avoid deals with private companies abroad during his second term. The company entered into a deal to build a golf resort.

The gift is of concern to the vice president in communications for the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, because of Trump’s business dealings in the Gulf.

Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., wrote a letter asking the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the acting Department of Defense inspector general and the Office of Government Ethics to conduct an immediate review.

“The American people are witnessing, in real time, what can only be described as a ‘flying grift,’ ” he wrote. “If we fail to draw the line here, there may soon be no line left to draw.”

Torres is asking them to issue a formal advisory opinion on whether the gift violates federal ethics regulations, and to recommend policy reforms “to prevent the conversion of foreign gifts into private property” by any president.

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 said that Trump ignored many of the existing safeguards, such as firing over a dozen inspectors general of federal agencies and ousting the head of the Office of Government Ethics.

Trump’s plans have been roundly criticized by various prominent Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who called it “premium foreign influence with extra legroom.”

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

Trump and Qatar’s media attachee to the U.S. are reviewing the transfer of the Air Force One plane from Qatar to the United States

Ronald Reagan had an Air Force One plane at his presidential library, and Trump said he will be following in his footsteps. The Associated Press reported in March that Donald Trump was scouting for a potential presidential library in Florida.

Ali Al-Ansari, Qatar’s media attaché to the U.S., told NPR in a statement on Monday that the possible transfer of the aircraft from Qatar’s Ministry of Defense to the U.S. Department of Defense “remains under review by the respective legal departments.”