A key question is whether the Constitution requires Congress to approve it.
Senators react to Qatar’s planned luxury jet donation to TrumpSenators on both sides of the aisle reacted to ABC News’ reporting that the Trump administration is preparing to accept a super luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet from the royal family of Qatar.
Does President Donald Trump’s intended plan to accept the Qatari government’s proposed gift of a luxury plane to use as a temporary Air Force One violate the Constitution?
Trump insists it wouldn’t be a gift to him — but to the Pentagon — essentially bypassing the rules of the Constitution.
But Democrats and critics say it is — especially since he’d be using and benefiting from the plane while in office — and therefore the Constitution requires congressional approval, according to the “emoluments clause.”
“This is spelled out as blatantly unconstitutional by our founding fathers,” Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut argued on the Senate floor. “The founding fathers knew it was evil for members of Congress or the president to accept gifts from a foreign government.”
Some Republicans and experts have ethics and security concerns as well.
ABC News reached out to experts to help explain the legal questions at issue.
The ’emoluments’ clause
With few details available so far about the arrangement, experts tell ABC News it’s too early to tell if the proposed gift would violate the untested limits posed by the Constitution’s “emoluments clause” or other federal regulations.
Under the Foreign Emoluments Clause of Article I that governs the president, “no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept … any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.”
Trump and the Justice Department have claimed that the $400 million plane, after being donated to the Defense Department, would be retrofitted to use as Air Force One for the remainder of his term. The administration has not released its estimate on retrofitting the plane.
“It is a gift from a Nation, Qatar, that we have successfully defended for many years. It will be used by our Government as a temporary Air Force One, until such time as our new Boeings, which are very late on delivery, arrive,” Trump said in a social media post Tuesday night defending the idea.
Sources told ABC News that the plane would be decommissioned turned over to the Trump presidential library after he leaves office, although Trump and his officials have not confirmed that publicly.
Attorney General Pam Bondi and Trump’s top White House lawyer David Warrington concluded it would be “legally permissible” for the donation of the aircraft to be conditioned on transferring its ownership to Trump’s presidential library before the end of his term, according to sources familiar with their determination.
Bondi provided a legal memorandum addressed to the White House counsel’s office last week after Warrington asked her for advice on the legality of the Pentagon accepting such a donation, according to sources
Trump might have muddied the controversy by saying he would accept the gift. He has not said in his posts or public comments that he intends to keep the plane.
“Some people say, oh, you shouldn’t accept gifts for the country. My attitude is, why wouldn’t I accept a gift? We’re giving to everybody else, why wouldn’t I accept a gift?” he told Fox News host Sean Hannity Tuesday.
Dan Weiner, director of the elections and government program Brennan Center for Justice, said it is imperative for the administration or Congress to nail down the specifics of the arrangement.
“It’s a different story if he uses the jet when he’s president and then it goes to some museum that he has some control over,” Weiner told ABC News. “That flies in the face of the emoluments clause.”
