Days before leaving on a diplomatic tour of the Middle East, news reports surfaced that President Donald Trump planned to accept a Boeing 747-8 jet from the Persian Gulf emirate of Qatar to replace the aging Air Force One aircrafts currently used by the president.
But the proposed gift has raised a maelstrom of legal questions from Democrats, who say the gift would need the approval of Congress or would otherwise be a violation of the Constitution.
Trump said it would be “stupid” not to take the gift, which the administration has said would be accepted by the Department of Defense and later donated to Trump’s presidential library after he leaves office.
A legal expert told us a gift to the U.S. government for use as Air Force One would be legal, but donating it to the Trump library would be illegal.
Here, we explore the legal and other questions surrounding this gift.
