What happened to Qatar Air Force One Jet?

The United States has accepted a luxury Boeing jet as a gift from Qatar in May, with plans to reorganize it to become the next Air Force. The Air Force indicates that the effort will cost less than $ 400 million for updates. Other estimates show that it could cost more than a billion dollars.

Meanwhile, a separate agreement with Boeing to produce two new 747-8s experienced significant delays and cost the company more than a billion dollars.

“They get a new Air Force One. I didn’t want to do it because if I did, they said,” Why are you doing this? “,” Said President Donald Trump in January 2016. “I don’t mind get this plane, but you know, it seems to be a lot of money, right?”

The Air Force announced for the first time the 747-8 development plan in 2015, when President Barack Obama was in office.

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The Emir Sheikh of Qatar Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani and President Donald Trump speak at the Royal Palace in Doha on May 14, 2025. (Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty Images)

“The president does not need a new plane at the moment. But in eight years, anyone who is president, they probably need a new plane,” said the press secretary of the White House, Josh Earnest, in October 2015.

Almost ten years later, the Air Force One project has not yet delivered, which prompted President Trump to look for other options.

“I am not satisfied with Boeing. He takes them a long time to do, you know, Air Force One,” said President Trump in February. “I could buy one in another country, perhaps. Or get one in another country.”

The Air Force and Boeing now say that their jets could fly by 2027. A white house report Considers that the beginnings may not take place before 2029. President Trump told journalists on July 29 that Qatar Jet could be in February.

“I think that it is another example of them who take us so closely to them that our interests align, even if they are not,” said free editor Jay Solomon.

According to a investigation By Solomon and his colleague free press writer Frannie Bock, Qatar spent nearly $ 100 billion to establish its influence in American Qatari officials who channeled money in the universities of Ivy League to build campuses in Doha, press rooms like Al Jazeera and companies to establish offices in Qatar. Doha also made an effort to invite the delegations of the congress to visit, while paying lobbyists to align with the legislators on both sides of the aisle. President Trump even made a stop in the country as part of the first major major foreign trip to his second term.

“Their national security apparatus is now merged in the United States. They are surrounded by Iran, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, countries with which they are or not at all,” said Solomon.

Qatar’s ties with Iran and extremist groups lead to many of its neighbors to break diplomatic relations for several years.

“The Qatar nation, unfortunately, has always been a terrorist donor at a very high level,” said President Trump in June 2017.

The blockade ended with little impact on the Qatar economy and without responding to the end of its links with terrorist groups.

“They somehow use their relationship with the United States as a means of projecting what is a very aggressive foreign policy. There are a lot of questions, is foreign policy really aligned with the United States?”

Qatar allowed the Taliban to open a political bureau in Doha in 2013 while retaining close relations with the United States, the Qataris also worked to negotiate peace between Israel and Hamas.

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“These are really unjust charges for (saying) Qatar who tries to buy an influence. In the past 25 or 30 years, you will see, you will find Qatar still next to the United States in many areas and many things,” said Prime Minister Qatari Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.

Qatar said he was proud of his relations with American entities and his efforts to mediate conflicts, but some people question the country’s intentions.

“I hide, to be honest. Many people do it. I think they have obtained some hostages. If you look at him on a positive note, they helped the Americans get out of Afghanistan. They helped negotiate the end of our role in Afghan.” But I think they are empowering groups in many cases that are not our friends. “

Legislators on both sides of the aisle express discomfort on the controversial Qatar file on human rights and terrorist links.

“Qatar is not, in my opinion, a great ally,” said senator Rick Scott, R-Fla., In May.

Senator Rick Scott, R-Fla., Expressed his concern against Qatar. (Images Kevin Dietsch / Getty)

The representative Ted Location, D-Calif., Said at a press conference with other democrats than “there is nothing like a free palace in the sky”. And Senator Chris Coons, d-Del., Noted “The Trojan horse was a gift”.

The White House has deflected concerns. The secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessent, told CNN: “The French gave us the statue of freedom. The British gave us the resolved office.”

The head of the Senate minority, Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., announced a grip on the approval of all the candidates of the Ministry of Justice until the White House gives more details on the Jet Agreement.

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“It is simply not bare corruption. It is also a threat of national security,” said Schumer in the Senate in May.

Democrats have now delayed more than 140 judicial candidates.

“With regard to gifts, we have rules of ethics. We have them in the Senate. We have them in the White House. These rules must be followed. And, in the end, what we want is to make sure that we have the president to travel in a way as safe as possible,” said Senator Pete Ricketts, R-N-NEB., Said.

A note revised by ABC News said that the jet donation was unconditional and that “the plane can be used or eliminated by the DOD in its sole discretion”.

American laws generally prohibit the acceptance of great foreign gifts by government employees, including the president. However, the status can be interpreted to show that gifts can be put in government official use with the agency’s approval.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets the bac of Mohammed Abdulrahman Bin Jassim Al Thani, Prime Minister of Qatar, in Washington, DC, March 5, 2024. (Valerie Plesch / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“This plane is not for me. It goes to the United States Air Force. For anyone who is president. At one point, it will be like Ronald Reagan. It will be lacking. You know, he is 11 years old,” said President Trump on “a special report” during his trip to the Middle East.

“It would be tilted because they wouldn’t want it. In addition, they will have the other two planes at that time.”

Legal analysis also shows that a person can transfer great donations to a government agency for sale or to give. President Trump says the jet would be given to his presidential library after leaving his duties.

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“When they give you a putt, you pick it up and go to the next hole. And you say:” Thank you very much “, told President Trump to the questions about the ethics of the gift.

“There seems to be conflicts of interest everywhere. Regarding Qatar and the greatest wrongs of the administration,” said Solomon. “Their decisions about these types of problems will in a way be conflicting or influenced by the fact that they take major gifts from a government which is the main sponsor of the Muslim Brotherhood.”