WASHINGTON, May 12 (APP/DNA):President Donald Trump said Sunday night that the Defence Department plans to accept from the Qatari royal family.
a luxury Boeing 747-8 jet to replace Air Force One, the air transport for the US president, as a “GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE.”
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the multimillion dollar jet would be used on a temporary basis “in a very public and transparent transaction.”
Earlier, The New York Times and ABC News reported that the plane will later be donated to Trump’s presidential library.
The gift will be announced when Trump makes his first major foreign trip to the Middle East this week, where he will visit Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, according to the Associated Press and the Times.
Indicating his plans to accept the plane as a gift, President Trump lashed out at Democratic critics of the exchange in an evening post on Truth Social on May 11.
“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. Anybody can do that!” Trump said. “The Dems (Democrats) are World Class Losers!!!”
The US Constitution’s Emoluments Clause prohibits any person holding office from accepting “any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State,” without congressional consent.
The aircraft in question is worth $400 million, ABC reported.
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