Photo: Alex Brandon/AP
Donald Trump has portrayed Qatar gifting him with a $400 million plane as an ally’s spontaneous act of kindness. The president has repeatedly described it as a “great gesture from Qatar,” and his defenders have taken to comparing it to France giving the United States the Statue of Liberty.
For example, this week Treasury secretary Scott Bessent dismissed Jake Tapper’s suggestion that Qatar might want something in return. “Nobody … just gives a $400 million jet just to be nice,” said the CNN anchor.
“Well, I don’t know, Jake,” Bessent said. “The French gave us the Statue of Liberty. The British gave us the Resolute Desk. I’m not sure they asked for anything in advance.”
TAPPER: Even if Qatar isn’t asking for anything in return now for the jet, that’s a bill that could come do. Nobody in the world just gives a $400m jet to be nice.
BESSENT: Well, I don’t know Jake. The French gave us the Statue of Liberty. pic.twitter.com/Cx5pdHLTj9
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 18, 2025
This was already a ridiculous comparison for multiple reasons (the Statue of Liberty is a public monument presented to the American people, while plane would only be used by Trump). And now, new reporting reveals that the Trump administration initially approached Qatar about buying the plane, contradicting the narrative that Qatar just wanted to treat their pal to a luxury Boeing 747 because he’s a great guy.
Since returning to the White House, Trump has been openly complaining about his frustration with Boeing, which probably won’t have the new Air Force One jet completed before he leaves office. On Monday, CNN reported that Trump “tasked his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff with finding a list of viable planes” to temporarily serve as the presidential plane, and the Air Force was exploring other options as well. They landed on the Qatar jet:
After the Pentagon’s initial engagement with the company, Boeing provided US defense officials with a list of other Boeing clients around the world with planes that could work in the meantime, three of the sources said.
“And Qatar was one of the clients,” the second source familiar with the discussions said, adding the Pentagon “offered to buy the plane” and Qatar indicated it was willing to sell it.
The Pentagon had launched the discussions with Qatar after learning that the White House supported the idea, the third source familiar said, and Witkoff helped facilitated the initial conversations, the White House official said.
The third source recalled that the initial discussions were about leasing the plane, rather than buying it outright.
On February 15, Trump toured the Qatari plane when it was brought to Palm Beach, Florida. At the time, White House communications director Steven Cheung said Trump was just on the jet “to check out the new hardware/technology.” But on Monday, the New York Times reported that the plane was flown from Doha to Florida, at an estimated cost of $1 million, so Trump could check out the U.S. government’s potential purchase:
After Mr. Trump looked at the plane, one thing was clear: It was love at first sight.
Flying back to Washington on one of the existing Air Force One 747s, he marveled at what he had seen of the interiors of the Qatari jet and talked about the plane as if getting it for his own use was a done deal. A new paint job, his allies in the White House figured, and few other quick upgrades, and it could be ready within the year for Mr. Trump to fly.
The talks about acquiring it intensified.
But, according to the Times, at some unclear point, haggling between Qatari and U.S. officials over buying the plane turned into a discussion about Trump accepting an exorbitant gift:
That was a surprise to Air Force officials. At no point, Pentagon officials said, did the Air Force propose that the plane be donated.
One senior administration official told The Times that Qatar raised the option of a potential gift, or at least that Qatari officials were “agreeable” to the idea of a no-charge, government-to-government transfer when it came up. A second official said Mr. Witkoff, for one, always believed the transaction would be a donation.
Another official said Qatari officials volunteered the idea of a donation, an account that Qatar has declined to address.
… Government officials in Qatar — who had long wanted to unload the plane — had a different version of the sequence of events, according to a person familiar with their timeline.
They were willing to send the jet to Florida for Mr. Trump to take a personal tour. But the expectation was that the plane would be sold to the United States, not offered as a gift.
So, to extend a very flawed metaphor, this is sounding more and more like Trump announced, “Help, I’m desperate to buy a giant statue!” Then France responded, “Oh, you can have this old Statue of Liberty for cheap — actually, how about free? Just don’t forget who hooked you up!”
But perhaps we’re all missing something? That sounds pretty shady, and on Tuesday, Qatar’s prime minister insisted the gesture is a “normal thing that happens between allies” and dismissed claims that Qatar is trying to “buy influence with this administration.”
“I call it an exchange between two countries. And basically the relationship that we have between Qatar and the United States is a very institutional relationship,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said, per CNBC. “The plane story is a Ministry of Defense–to–Department of Defense transaction, which is basically done in full transparency and very legally, and it’s part of the cooperation that we’ve been always doing together for decades.”
“It’s a two-ways relationship. It’s mutually beneficial for Qatar and for the United States. Nothing [has] been done by us under the table,” he added.
So the plane gift is a “mutually beneficial” “exchange” between two nations, in which Qatar doesn’t get anything specific in return. Makes sense!
