Qatars lavish gift for Don: Letters to the Editor May 20, 2025

The Defense Department should not accept Qatar’s airplane and convert it into a presidential Air Force One (“Is Qatar’s outreach a shady Uncle Scam?” Douglas Murray, May 16).That Qatari jet will need to be torn down to the studs for security clearance, work that only Boeing’s experts would be qualified to do.But that will delay Boeing’s work of building two brand-new AF1s.If the DoD does accept the airplane in time before President Trump leaves office, he should not be allowed to keep it after his term.This bribe is corruption — plain and simple.

If Trump is the billionaire he claims to be, he could buy the plane for $400 million with his own money after leaving office.Bruce JoffePiedmont, Calif.This is nothing more than a blatant attempt to bribe a US president on an unheard-of scale.How hypocritical is this when he criticized Hillary Clinton for accepting a $425 necklace?Alan SwartzVerona, NJLeftist media morons have been ragging on Trump all week over Qatar’s offer to provide a 747 jet to the US government.These people relentlessly lie by giving the impression that Trump has already accepted the aircraft.Both Qatar and the US governments are presently analyzing the legality of such a transfer.

Both are only in the “speaking” stage and no actual aircraft transfer has yet been made.Earl BealTerre Haute, Ind.There are obvious political and security problems with Trump accepting the jet Qatar and then keeping it for his presidential library after his term.But there have also been legal and ethical problems.First, some sticklers insist Congress must approve the grift, err, gift.

Second, some claim there is no precedent for whether Trump keeps the jet — but that is wrong.When his term was over, President Grover Cleveland didn’t take personal possession of the Statue of Liberty and move it to his presidential library in Caldwell, NJ.Trump evidently still believes the plane will be his, perhaps on the theory that if you tell a lie and keep repe...