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Released on May 15, 2025
President Donald Trump’s administration says it has accepted an estimated $400 million worth of planes from Qatar. Trump is president, but the White House says it will be used as a new Air Force member, but that will go to Trump’s presidential library after his term ends.
According to ABC News, the aircraft will be the most expensive gift from a US-elected civil servant to date, and from a foreign government to date. However, some members of Congress say it’s unconstitutional to accept it.
When asked about the potential gifts in the May 12th executive order, Trump condemned the lack of progress in building Boeing’s new air force. He said he was “silly” to reject free planes and would not use it once he took office. “It’s not a gift for me, it’s a gift for the Department of Defense,” he said.
What do experts say?
Legal experts told Politifact they believe accepting a gift violates the emoluments clause of the US Constitution.
David Forte, an honorary law professor at Cleveland State University, said the emolence phrase was designed “to prevent foreign countries from gaining inappropriate influence.”
Experts differed on whether accepting planes is a percheable crime.
Michael Gerhardt, a law professor at the University of North Carolina, said that if Trump accepts the gift, it could be an act of blast-eachable because it would be a “completely corrupt act.”
However, Forte said the gift would not necessarily be a crime that can be bribed or blast-each, but he said it was “purchasing an impact designed to earn the recipient’s gratitude by responding to his vanity.”
Is this the first time Trump has faced such accusations?
During Trump’s first term as US president, Congressional Democrats, individuals and attorney general in Maryland and Washington, D.C., he filed a lawsuit against Trump, which originated from the Emoliment clause.
However, many cases were dismissed for procedural reasons, and the U.S. Supreme Court did not govern the fundamental synthetic nature of the transaction.
Frank Bowman, a law professor at the University of Missouri Honorary School, said Trump’s aircraft acceptance is different.
During his first term, Trump said payments were made for his business. This time there is no connection to Trump’s business. Bowman said it was a free gift, without a promise of payment from the president or the US Treasury Department.
Citing an anonymous senior Justice Department official, NBC News reported that Attorney General Pam Bondi has approved a memo prepared by the agency’s legal counsel office that the Department of Defense has determined it is legal to accept gifts. Bondi has previously lobbyed on behalf of Qatar province.
Trump is grateful to Jet Qatar on his side.
“If we can get 747 as a contribution to the Pentagon, then for a few years while they’re building other things, I think it’s a really great gesture (from Qatar),” he said on May 12th.
Can the emolations clause be forced against Trump?
Legal experts said it is unlikely that Congress, controlled by Republicans, will stop Trump from accepting gifts.
Meghan Faulkner, director of citizen communications for Washington’s responsibility and ethics, said that “it can make it difficult to hold him accountable” because the Department of Justice appears to have signed the gifts on his behalf.
Bowman said long-standing policies would not indict the Justice Department of Finance against the incumbent president.
Faulkner said Trump is in a position to make money again after running out of watches in the emoluments challenge during his first semester. “Enforcing the emoluments clause in the court will face similar challenges, including the challenge of finding plaintiffs who are in a position to challenge violations (his second term),” she said.