Qatar is said to be giving Trump a new plane
The Trump administration is in talks with the Qatari government about accepting a luxury Boeing 747 airplane, a senior White House official said, that could temporarily serve as Air Force One.
The offer, which was first reported by ABC News, comes on the eve of Trump’s visit to the Middle East. The president is scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
The senior White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, confirmed that Qatar has offered to donate a plane to the Department of Defense, but said the gift will not be presented nor accepted this week while in Qatar.
ABC and The New York Times reported that the plane would be donated to Trump’s presidential library when he leaves office. The offer would be one of the biggest foreign gifts ever received by the U.S. government, and raises legal and ethical questions.
Trump pushed back against those concerns in a post on his Truth social Sunday night.
He wrote: “So the fact that the Defense Department is getting a GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE, of a 747 aircraft to replace the 40 year old Air Force One, temporarily, in a very public and transparent transaction, so bothers the Crooked Democrats that they insist we pay, TOP DOLLAR, for the plane. Anybody can do that! The Dems are World Class Losers!!!”
Karoline Leavitt, the White House spokeswoman, said that any “gift given by a foreign government is always accepted in full compliance with all applicable laws.”
“President Trump’s Administration is committed to full transparency,” she said.
Democrats questioned whether the deal was even legal.
“This isn’t a good idea even if the plane was being donated to the U.S. government,” Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut said on X. “But Trump GET TO KEEP THE PLANE??? It’s simply a cash payment to Trump in exchange for favors. Just wildly illegal.”
In his first term, Trump struck a deal with Boeing to supply the next generation of Air Force One. Under the terms of that deal, Trump agreed to pay $3.9 billion for two customized 747s. But the president has expressed frustration about the time the beleaguered aircraft manufacturer is taking to deliver the aircraft.
Judge orders new Alabama Senate map after ruling found racial gerrymandering
U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco, appointed by President Donald Trump during his first term, issued the ruling Monday putting a new court-selected map in place for the 2026 and 2030 elections.
Construction on Meta’s largest data center brings 600% crash spike, chaos to rural Louisiana
An investigation from the Gulf States Newsroom found that trucks contracted to work at the Meta facility are causing delays and dangerous roads in Holly Ridge.
Bessemer City Council approves rezoning for a massive data center, dividing a community
After the Bessemer City Council voted 5-2 to rezone nearly 700 acres of agricultural land for the “hyperscale” server farm, a dissenting council member said city officials who signed non-disclosure agreements weren’t being transparent with citizens.
Alabama Public Television meeting draws protesters in Birmingham over discussion of disaffiliating from PBS
Some members of the Alabama Educational Television Commission, which oversees APT, said disaffiliation is needed because the network has to cut costs after the Trump administration eliminated all funding for public media this summer.
Gov. Kay Ivey urges delay on PBS decision by public TV board
The Republican governor sent a letter to the Alabama Educational Television Commission ahead of a Nov. 18 meeting in which commissioners were expected to discuss disaffiliation.
A proposed Bessemer data center faces new hurdles: a ‘road to nowhere’ and the Birmingham darter
With the City Council in Bessemer scheduled to vote Tuesday on a “hyperscale” data center, challenges from an environmental group and the Alabama Department of Transportation present potential obstacles for the wildly unpopular project.
