Qatar wants US to clarify that Trump initiated luxury Air Force One deal: Report

In what would contradict US President Donald Trump’s narrative, Qatar has stressed that any agreement for the transfer of the luxury Boeing 747-8 aeroplane must specify that it was the Trump administration that initiated the deal, according to a report.

For several weeks, Trump has maintained that Qatar approached him with an offer to gift him the luxury Boeing 747-8 that he intends to convert into the next Air Force One, the aeroplane that serves the President of the United States.

However, The Washington Post has now reported that Qatar is insisting that a memorandum of understanding between United States and Qatar should specify that the aircraft’s transfer was initiated by the Trump administration.

Despite the Trump administration saying that the aeroplane has been accepted by the US Air Force, The Post further reported that the deal has not yet been finalised and terms are still under negotiations.

Critics have said that receiving such an expensive article as a ‘gift’ from a foreign entity —the luxury Boeing 747-8 costs around $400 million— amounts to a bribe and that Qatar is essentially buying influence at the highest level.

Critics are further inflamed by plans reported in the media that say that the Trump administration would donate the luxury Boeing 747-8 to the Trump presidential library once his tenure would be over. That would allow Trump to use the aeroplane procured for the formal business of the president’s office even as a private citizen. Critics say that such a transfer would mean that the deal was intended as a personal favour throughout.

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Even though Trump has pitched the aeroplane as “free”, it would not be completely free as it would need to be retrofitted with security features that would make it secure for presidential transport.

At the time Trump first inspected the aeroplane in February, the US Air Force had assessed that the process could cost $1.5 billion, according to The Post.

The newspaper reported that it would further cost around $500 million to remove those security features once Trump would leave office.