WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has been saying for more than a year that the Boeing 747 jet donated by Qatar to use as Air Force One eventually will be the centerpiece of his presidential library.
“I don’t get it,” Trump said in May 2025, pushing back at any suggestion he will keep the plane for himself after he leaves office: “It’ll go to my library."
Yet Eric Trump, the president's son who is overseeing the library's planning, suggested in a new interview that the library will feature a different plane.
U.S. President Donald Trump gestures during a stop in Suffolk, Britain, to switch from an older Air Force One to the Qatari-gifted plane on his return trip to Washington earlier this month after the NATO leaders summit in Turkey.
Eric Trump said in a July 9 Palm Beach Post interview that the Air Force One with the 29000 tail number ‒ one of the two older planes that the new Qatari plane replaced — will “be at the base” of his father’s library. The plane slated for the library has decades of presidential history, Eric Trump said, including from his father’s first term.
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“That aircraft's been flying for 30 years,” Eric Trump said. “That was the aircraft that George W. Bush got thrown on in the height of 9/11. It was commissioned by (Ronald) Reagan. It has something like 6.5 million miles with a president on board over the course of 30 years.
"So the plan for that is to put that in the base of the building," he added. He did not mention the Qatari-gifted plane.
The interview raises more questions about the new Qatari plane, which was donated to the Pentagon more than a year ago and spent time being refurbished before President Trump began flying it this month. If the Trump family intends for a different plane to go to the presidential library, what will happen to the Qatari plane?
The two older Air Force One jets were already in the process of being replaced when Qatar gave the jet to the United States, which marked an unprecedented $400 million gift from a foreign country. Boeing is building two new presidential planes that are expected to be completed in 2028. The Qatari plane has been described by Trump as a bridge to that next generation of Air Force One planes.
The White House declined to comment in response to questions from USA TODAY about plans for the Qatari plane after Trump leaves office. The Trump Organization, the president's private business run by his sons, did not respond to a request for comment, nor did a spokesperson for Eric Trump or the Air Force, which operates the Air Force One aircraft.
Trump could face obstacles to move an Air Force One jet to library
Trump has pushed back at criticism that he stands to benefit personally from the plane ‒ which cost an unspecified amount of taxpayer dollars to retrofit on top of the gift's $400 million value ‒ by arguing it will go to his presidential library when he leaves office.
Asked last year if he planned to keep flying in the plane after he leaves the presidency, Trump said, "No I don't."
"It would go directly to the library after I leave office," Trump added. "I wouldn't be using it, no."
Yet Trump could face several hurdles to send a retired Air Force One jet to his future library, regardless which plane is targeted. The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force has historically determined the future of military aircraft that are no longer used in official capacity. Air Force One planes replaced in the past have remained in service for some years even after serving as the flagship Air Force One.
And if Democrats take control of Congress after the midterm elections, they could try to pass legislation blocking any transfer of the Qatari-gifted plane, which would still have plenty of service life left.
Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Connecticut, filed an amendment to a defense bill last month aimed at preventing the Qatari aircraft's transfer, noting it only has about 1,000 flight hours and that the "U.S. taxpayer has made significant investment into the plane."
"Any notion that it will be retired in 2028 and divested is completely unacceptable," said Courtney, adding he wanted to ensure "it will never become President Trump’s private jet, or a trophy for a Presidential library.”
The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio houses a fleet of aircraft previously used by presidents, including a Boeing VC-137C, also known as the Special Air Mission 26000, which carried eight presidents beginning with John F. Kennedy. The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California displays another former Air Force One jet, but it wasn't transferred there until 2003, 14 years after his presidency.
Trump marvels at new Air Force One weeks into service
Trump's gifted plane from Qatar was met with widespread criticism by Democrats. Sen. Jack Reed called it a "brazen attempt to evade constitutional limitations on the acceptance of personal gifts from foreign governments without congressional approval."
The gift not only raised ethical concerns, but has come with security issues. Trump flew the new Qatari plane to a NATO summit in Turkey but left the event in an older Air Force One as a security precaution as hostilities with Iran flared up.
The Secret Service urged Trump to use the old plane. The new plane doesn’t have the same security features, a source said.
Trump has marveled at his new Air Force One ever since he debuted the plane before the Fourth of July holiday. "There's never been a plane like it," Trump said before taking a maiden flight on July 1 on a plane that was known as a "palace in the sky" when it belonged to the Qatari royal family.
The new plane is bigger than the former Air Force One, which began operating in 1990, and it contains lavish inside amenities — including creamy tan and leather furnishings, rugs and artwork designed by the famed French interior design firm Cabinet Alberto Pinto. Its exterior is painted red, white and blue — a departure from the baby blue Air Force One it replaced.
