re: Qatar slashes its overseas aid spending by roughly 85%

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That's the whole point. It isn't a Hertz. It is a flying palace that flatters Trump's self image. It was useless as a functioning AF1. Even after the billion dollar upgrades, the hangar queen STILL is insufficient to protect the President all over the world.

I'm what way was Qatar Force One functionally superior to existing 747s used for that purpose? It was an expensive gesture by a foreign power to gain Trump's favor.

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In what way did he gain from getting an aircraft he will never own?

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In what way did he gain from getting an aircraft he will never own?

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Are you serious?

First, we don't know that his library will never own it.

Second, Trump brags about acquisition of the jet as a tremendous accomplishment..."there will never be another one like it...it's the most luxurious jet in the world..."

If you don't see that being able to fly in the "world's most luxurious jet" is a benefit to Trump, I don't know what to tell you.

What’s the evidence that Carlson is even under the financial influence of Qatar?

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Well that is completely surprising. So not normal for this place.

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It's TDS to ask for proof!!!

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Entire thread and not one shred of evidence that Carlson:

-is under Qatari influence

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Weird the same can be said of Drumpf counselor!

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Weird the same can be said of Drumpf counselor!

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Of course I didn't say that. I said if you think Owens and Carlson are tools of Qatar for their alleged benefits from Qatar then you have to conclude that Trump is a tool of Qatar because he received a $400 million benefit from Qatar.

Other than you, I can't find ANYONE who doesn't think the gifting of the jet is not a benefit to Trump.

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he received a $400 million benefit from Qatar.

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No aircraft no ownership but god dammit he got something!

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Other than you, I can't find ANYONE who doesn't think the gifting of the jet is not a benefit to Trump.

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One more time what was the benefit? He has a fricking fleet of VIP aircraft at his disposal.

He will never take ownership of the bridge aircraft.

But god dam he got something!

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One more time what was the benefit? He has a fricking fleet of VIP aircraft at his disposal.
He will never take ownership of the bridge aircraft

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I don't know why you're being so obtuse. If Trump didn't think Qatar Force One were superior to the other available VIP aircraft why accept it and spend one billion dollars (so far) in attempting to make it usable as AF1? The flying palace (when it's available) is solely for Trump's use.

As for ownership after Trump leaves the White House, we don't know because the White House WILL NOT RELEASE THE TRANSFER document. It's entirely possible that the transfer was made conditional on the 747-8 going to the Trump Library after Trump completes his term.

The White House will not even release Bondi/DOJ memo which apparently concludes that acceptance of the jet with transfer to the Trump Library is legal.

The reporting at the time of the transfer was 100% uniform: ownership of the 747-8 was going to the Trump Library. Why won't the White House produce any relevant documents? My guess is because the transfer includes a provision that the Trump Library will own the 747-8 at the end of Trump's presidency.

If you're actually interested below is ChatGPT's summary of the issue.

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I looked specifically for the Bondi/DOJ memo itself, rather than relying on descriptions of it. The most important finding is that the actual memo is still not public. So we need to distinguish what is documented from what has been reported about the document.
What we actually know about the memo
According to reporting from people familiar with the document, DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) drafted a memorandum analyzing the legality of accepting the Qatari Boeing 747, and Attorney General Pam Bondi signed it before sending it to White House Counsel David Warrington. The Washington Post independently reported that OLC drafted the memo and Bondi signed off on it.

The reported conclusion was that accepting the aircraft was "legally permissible."
But the more significant allegation is that the memo concluded the donation could be structured so that the aircraft would ultimately be transferred to Trump's presidential library foundation before the end of his second term. That description appears in a November 2025 Senate FOIA request directed to DOJ's OLC. The senators characterized the information as based on public reporting, not as having seen the memo themselves.

So did Bondi's memo actually say the plane could go to Trump's library?
Apparently yes, according to the reporting—but we cannot verify the precise language because DOJ has not released the memo.
The Freedom of the Press Foundation specifically requested the memo on May 15, 2025. DOJ granted expedited processing but subsequently told FPF that its estimated processing time was 620 days, putting the estimated response date at January 25, 2027. FPF then sued DOJ. The federal complaint identifies the requested document as the Bondi memorandum concerning the legality of accepting Qatar's approximately $400 million aircraft.

The Foundation itself describes the reported memo somewhat more definitively: it says Bondi's memo argued that accepting the jet was permissible provided the plane was transferred to the Trump presidential library foundation at the end of Trump's term.

What would the legal theory have been?
This is the critical point.
The apparent structure was:
Qatar ? U.S. government/Department of Defense ? Trump presidential library foundation
rather than:
Qatar ? Donald Trump
The legal argument would therefore have to distinguish a foreign government giving an asset to the United States from a foreign government giving an asset to the President personally.
That matters because the Constitution's Foreign Emoluments Clause provides:
"No Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under [the United States], shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept ... any present ... from any ... foreign State."
The administration apparently believed that having the United States government accept the aircraft initially avoided the President personally accepting the foreign gift.
But that leaves the much harder question:
Can the government accept a $400 million foreign gift knowing from the outset that the government intends to give that same asset to a private foundation controlled by the President after he leaves office?
That is precisely the aspect of the arrangement that makes the Bondi memo so important.
And there is evidence that this wasn't merely an after-the-fact possibility
The Senate's November 2025 FOIA request to OLC is unusually specific. It says:
"According to public reporting, Trump administration officials approached Qatar in 2025 to acquire a Boeing 747 plane..."
and then describes the reported Bondi conclusion that the donation could be conditioned upon transferring ownership to Trump's presidential library before the end of Trump's second term.

That means the library transfer appears to have been part of the proposed transaction structure, not simply something somebody thought of later.
But there's a very important limitation
I would not state as a fact that "Bondi's memo proves the plane can legally be given to Trump's library."
That's too strong.
The accurate formulation is:
People familiar with the memo reported that Bondi/DOJ concluded the Qatar aircraft could legally be accepted under an arrangement in which it would ultimately be transferred to Trump's presidential library. The actual memorandum has not been publicly released, so the legal reasoning and precise conditions cannot yet be independently evaluated.
That's substantially more defensible.
Why I think this is significant for your original question
If the reported description is accurate, the legal issue isn't merely whether Trump can use a foreign-donated airplane as president.
It's whether the government can accept an extraordinarily valuable asset from a foreign government with an intended eventual transfer to an entity associated with Trump.
That creates a potentially substantial personal benefit to Trump even if Trump never technically owns the plane while he's president.
And there is another interesting issue: Bondi's prior work as a registered lobbyist for Qatar. The Washington Post reported that she had previously lobbied for Qatar and nevertheless signed the OLC memorandum after DOJ ethics officials were consulted.

Bottom line: I think your instinct to focus on this memo is exactly right. It is potentially the key document for determining whether the Qatar jet was deliberately structured to provide Trump with a post-presidential benefit. But until the actual memo is released, we should treat the reported library-transfer conclusion as well-supported reporting, not independently verified primary-source fact.