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The Trump administration is set to accept a luxury plane from the Qatari royal family, which will be retrofitted and used as Air Force One during his second term, two people familiar with the agreement told CNN.
The announcement is expected to happen within a matter of days. Trump embarks this week on the first major foreign trip of his second term, which will includes a stop in Doha.
Given the massive value of a Boeing 747-8, the move is unprecedented and raises substantive ethical and legal questions.
A Qatari official said the plane is technically being gifted from the Qatari Ministry of Defense to the Pentagon, describing it more as a government-to-government transaction instead of a personal one. The Defense Department will then retrofit the plane to the president’s use with security features and modifications.
Trump and aides toured the plane earlier this year in Palm Beach, and it is expected to be in use within two years, one person told CNN. Since his tour, Trump has boasted to people around him about how luxurious the plane was.
This comes after the president was deeply frustrated by delays in new aircraft to be used as Air Force One. He at one point tasked Elon Musk with helping accelerate the process.
