Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and President Donald Trump speak to each other at the Royal Palace in Doha on May 14, 2025. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)
"The President doesn't need a new plane right now. But eight years from now, whoever is President, they are likely to need a new plane," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said in October 2015.
Nearly ten years later, the Air Force One project has yet to deliver, prompting President Trump to look for other options.
"I’m not happy with Boeing. It takes them a long time to do, you know, Air Force One," President Trump said in February. "I could buy one from another country, perhaps. Or get one from another country."
The Air Force and Boeing now say their jets could fly by 2027. A White House report estimates the debut might not take place until 2029. President Trump told reporters on July 29, the retrofitted Qatar Jet could be in the air by February.
"I think it's another example of them pulling us so closely to them that our interests become aligned, even if they're not," Staff Writer for the Free Press Jay Solomon said.
According to an investigation by Solomon and fellow Free Press writer Frannie Bock, Qatar has spent almost $100 billion to establish its influence in the U.S. Qatari officials have funneled money into Ivy League universities to build campuses in Doha, newsrooms like Al Jazeera and corporations to establish offices in Qatar. Doha has also made an effort to invite congressional delegations to visit, while paying lobbyists to align with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. President Trump even made a stop in the country as part of the first major foreign trip of his second term.
"Their national security apparatus is fused now into the United States. They're surrounded by Iran, Saudi Arabia, the UAE countries they're either kind of frenemies with or not friends at all," Solomon said.
Qatar’s ties to Iran and extremist groups lead many of its neighbors to sever diplomatic relations for several years.
"The nation of Qatar, unfortunately, has historically been a funder of terrorism at a very high level," President Trump said in June 2017.
The blockade ended with little impact on Qatar’s economy and without Doha meeting the demands to end its ties to terror groups.
"They sort of use their relationship with the United States as a way to project what is a very aggressive foreign policy. Which there are a lot of questions, is that foreign policy really aligned with the U.S.?"
Qatar allowed the Taliban to open a political office in Doha in 2013 while maintaining close relations with the U.S. The Qataris have also worked to negotiate peace between Israel and Hamas.
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"It's really unfair accusations for [saying] Qatar's trying to buy influence. Throughout the last 25 years or 30 years, you will see, you'll find Qatar always by the side of the U.S. in many areas and many things," Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said.
Qatar said they are proud of their relationships with U.S. entities and its effort to mediate conflicts, but some question the country’s intentions.
"I stew over this, to be honest. A lot of people do. I think they have gotten some of the hostages if you look at it on a positive note, they helped Americans get out of Afghanistan. They helped negotiate the end of our role in Afghanistan. You could look at that and say, wow, that's positive," Solomon said. "But I do think they empower groups in a lot instances that are not our friends."
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle express unease over Qatar’s controversial record on human rights and terror links.
"Qatar is not, in my opinion, a great ally," Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said in May.
Then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani, Qatar's prime minister, in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, March 5, 2024. (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
"This plane's not for me. This goes to the United States Air Force. For whoever is president. At some point, it'll be like Ronald Reagan, it will be decommissioned. You know, it's 11 years old," President Trump said on Special Report during his trip to the Middle East. "It would be decommissioned because they won't want it. Plus, they'll have the other two planes by that time."
Legal analysis also shows an individual may transfer large gifts to a government agency for sale or donation. President Trump says the jet would be donated to his presidential library after he leaves office.
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"When they give you a putt, you pick it up and you walk to the next hole and you say, thank you very much," President Trump said to questions over the ethics of the gift.
"There seems to be conflicts of interest all over the place. When it comes to Qatar and the highest wrongs of the administration," Solomon said. "Are their decisions on these types of issues gonna be in any way conflicted or influenced by the fact that they're taking major gifts from a government that's the main Sponsor of the Muslim Brotherhood."
Bret Baier currently serves as FOX News Channel's (FNC) anchor and executive editor of Special Report with Bret Baier (weeknights at 6-7PM/ET), chief political anchor of the network and co-anchor of the network’s election coverage. Baier is also host of FOX News Audio's "The Bret Baier Podcast" which includes Common Ground and The All-Star Panel. He joined FNC in 1998 as the first reporter in the Atlanta bureau and is now based in Washington, D.C. where he was recently described as "the most influential news anchor in America right now" at the 2025 Semafor Trust in News summit.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/whatever-happened-to-qatar-air-force-one-jet