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Guest Essay
May 14, 2025
By Norman EisenVirginia Canter and Richard W. Painter
The writers were ethics counsels in the Clinton, George W. Bush and Obama White Houses.
As lawyers responsible in recent White Houses for enforcing the rules against foreign government presents for presidents, we believe Donald Trump is transgressing them in the most brazen of ways. We’re not just talking about his apparent eagerness to accept an airplane valued at about $400 million from Qatar. His crypto entanglements are just as bad — perhaps even worse.
Let’s start with the plane. The Qatari royal family may donate a luxury Boeing 747-8 that will be upgraded to serve as Air Force One. Mr. Trump has long coveted a new presidential plane. He reportedly toured the Qatari-owned 747-8 this year when it was parked at a Florida airport.
This arrangement has been blessed by his White House counsel, David Warrington, and his attorney general, Pam Bondi, on the theory that Mr. Trump is not getting the plane, the United States is.
Yet Mr. Trump would be personally benefiting from the use of the plane while in office and could continue to do so after he leaves office. Functionally, this is a gift to him, notwithstanding the rationalizations offered by administration lawyers.
The foreign emoluments clause of the Constitution forbids the president from accepting a present or emolument — a benefit, or anything of value — from a foreign government without permission from Congress. That was an issue we litigated in a series of cases during the first Trump term; in each one, judges held that Mr. Trump could not accept various items of value from foreign states (the Supreme Court dismissed the cases as moot after his term ended).
Mr. Trump’s defenders may argue that there is precedent for transferring an Air Force One plane to a president. One used by several presidents was decommissioned in 2001 and was given to the Reagan Library. But the comparison is inapt: The Air Force One that sits at the Reagan Library did not start out in the hands of a foreign government. Nor was it made available for Ronald Reagan’s personal use — it was retired and simply went straight to his library. (Mr. Trump denies that he will travel in the plane after his term ends.)
