Former U.S. President Donald Trump has fired back at critics after reports emerged that the Qatari royal family offered him a $400 million ultra-luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet for use as Air Force One.
The offer comes in response to long-standing delays and escalating costs related to a previous deal Trump made with Boeing during his presidency in 2018 for two new aircraft. With that order still unfulfilled, Qatar has stepped in with a temporary alternative.
In a defiant post on Truth Social Sunday night, Trump defended the arrangement and blasted his detractors.
“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,” Trump wrote. “Anybody can do that!”
Sources say the aircraft may eventually become Trump’s personal jet once he leaves office, with plans for ownership to transfer to his presidential library foundation.
Qatar’s media attaché, Ali Al-Ansari, confirmed in a statement that discussions are ongoing between Qatar’s Ministry of Defense and the U.S. Department of Defense regarding the potential temporary use of the aircraft. However, he noted that “the matter remains under review by the respective legal departments, and no decision has been made.”
