President Donald Trump told people criticizing his decision to accept a luxury jet from Qatar to pipe down Sunday in a late-night post on Truth Social.
The issue united both Democrats and Republicans in outrage after ABC News broke the story that Trump planned to take the $400 million Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet to use as his new Air Force One.
But the president called those who questioned the ethical implications of such a massive gift “world class losers” in a scathing statement.
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“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,” Trump penned on Truth Social. “Anybody can do that! The Dems are World Class Losers!!! MAGA.”
Qatar’s media attaché to the US, Ali Al-Ansari, said in a statement earlier on Sunday that the plane is technically being gifted from the country’s Ministry of Defense to the Pentagon.
“The possible transfer of an aircraft for temporary use as Air Force One is currently under consideration between Qatar’s Ministry of Defense and the US Department of Defense, but the matter remains under review by the respective legal departments, and no decision has been made,” Al-Ansari said according to CNN.
Meanwhile, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told ABC News in a statement 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 added.
Democrats unanimously criticized the gift on Sunday, decrying it as blatant corruption.
“This isn’t a good idea even if the plane was being donated to the U.S. government. But Trump GETS TO KEEP THE PLANE???” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) wrote on X. “It’s simply a cash payment to Trump in exchange for favors. Just wildly illegal.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) similarly slammed the gift on X, writing: “Trump must seek Congress’ consent to take this $300 million gift from Qatar. The Constitution is perfectly clear: no present ‘of any kind whatever’ from a foreign state without Congressional permission. A gift you use for four years and then deposit in your library is still a gift (and a grift).”
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders also called the deal “farcically corrupt.”
“Congress must not allow this over-the-top kleptocracy to proceed,” he wrote on X.
Even Trump’s own allies piped up with their own rare criticism of the president—though they seemed less concerned with the potential for corruption than with Qatar’s ties to Iran.
Laura Loomer, an influential Trump adviser, led the MAGA pushback to the jet deal.
“I would take a bullet for him. But, I have to call a spade a spade,” she said. “This is really going to be such a stain on the admin if this is true… I’m so disappointed.”
Mark Levin, a Fox News host and longtime supporter of the president, also referenced the deal in a statement on Sunday, decrying Qatar for cooperating “with Iran and its proxies.”
“Their jet and all the other things they are buying in our country does not provide them with the cover they seek,” he wrote on X.
