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The administration of US President Donald Trump says it has accepted a plane worth an estimated $400m from the state of Qatar. While Trump is president, the White House says it would be used as the new Air Force One, then it would go to Trump’s presidential library after his term ends.
The aircraft would become the most expensive gift from a foreign government ever to a US elected official, ABC News reported. But some members of Congress say accepting it would be unconstitutional.
When asked about the potential gift at a May 12 executive order signing, Trump blamed Boeing’s lack of progress in building a new Air Force One. He said he would be “stupid” to refuse a free plane, and said he won’t use it after he leaves office. “It’s not a gift to me, it’s a gift to the Department of Defense,” he said.
What do experts say?
Legal experts told PolitiFact that they believe accepting the gift would violate the US Constitution’s emoluments clause, which reads, “No Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.”
The emoluments clause was designed “to prevent foreign nations from gaining improper influence” over US leaders, said David Forte, Cleveland State University emeritus law professor.
Experts differed on whether accepting the plane would be an impeachable offence.
Michael Gerhardt, a University of North Carolina law professor, said that if Trump accepts the gift, it could be an impeachable deed, because it would amount to “a fully corrupt act”.
Forte, however, said the gift wouldn’t necessarily amount to a bribe or an impeachable offence, but it “is a form of influence buying designed to gain the gratitude of the recipient by playing to his vanity.”
Is this the first time Trump is facing such accusations?
During Trump’s first term as US president, Congressional Democrats, private individuals and attorneys general from Maryland and Washington, DC, filed lawsuits against Trump stemming from the emoluments clause.
However, many of the cases were dismissed on procedural grounds, and the US Supreme Court did not rule on the transactions’ underlying constitutionality.
Trump’s possible acceptance of the aircraft is different, said Frank Bowman, a University of Missouri emeritus law professor.
In his first term, Trump said payments were made to his businesses. This time, there would be no connection to Trump’s businesses. It would be a gift offered for free with no promise of payment from the president or the US Treasury, Bowman said.
NBC News, citing an anonymous senior Justice Department official, reported that Attorney General Pam Bondi approved a memo prepared by the agency’s Office of Legal Counsel that deemed it was legal for the Defense Department to accept the gift. Bondi has previously lobbied on behalf of the state of Qatar.
Trump, on his part, has thanked Qatar for the jet.
“If we can get a 747 as a contribution to our Defense Department, during a couple of years while they’re [Boeing is] building the other one, I think that’s a very nice gesture [from Qatar],” he said on May 12.
Can the emoluments clause be enforced against Trump?
Legal experts said it’s unlikely that Congress, controlled by Republicans, will stop Trump from accepting the gift.
Meghan Faulkner, communications director for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said that since it appears the Justice Department has signed off on receiving the gift, it “could make it harder to hold him accountable”.
Bowman said the Justice Department, according to longstanding policy, wouldn’t prosecute a sitting president.
