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President Donald Trump left Qatar on Air Force One on May 15 without finalizing a plan to accept a luxury 747.<\/span>Alex Brandon\/AP<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n President Donald Trump<\/span> insists that accepting<\/a> a $400 million Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet from Qatar\u2019s ruling family would not amount<\/a> to a huge bribe. That\u2019s because this opulent new Air Force One would go<\/a> to his \u201clibrary\u201d\u2014not to him personally\u2014when he leaves office.<\/p>\n That, at least, is what the president claimed amid concern that he might make personal use of a library-owned aircraft. Disputing that, he has suggested<\/a> the plane would instead serve as a museum piece, like the decommissioned former Air Force One displayed<\/a> at President Ronald Reagan\u2019s library facility.<\/p>\n The president, or unnamed aides, are regularly attempting to wave off ethical concerns by saying that various huge donations will eventually go to the \u201clibrary.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n It\u2019s not yet clear whether this curious claim\u2014that a so-called \u201cflying palace\u201d that US taxpayers may pay<\/a> more than $1 billion to upgrade will be parked at a to-be-determined site in Florida<\/a> after just a few years of use\u2014will really come to pass. Facing rare bipartisan<\/a> criticism<\/a> over his plan to accept what experts call an unconstitutional emolument<\/a>, Trump left Qatar Thursday without a public announcement finalizing a deal for the plane.<\/p>\n But Trump\u2019s explanation is part of a trend. The president, or unnamed aides, are regularly attempting to wave off ethical concerns by saying that various huge donations will eventually go to the \u201clibrary.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s inaugural committee hasn\u2019t said how much remains from the record-shattering $250 million raised via fealty displays from corporate chieftains. But the balance will go to the library, a \u201cperson close to the inauguration\u201d told<\/a> the Wall Street Journal<\/em>. Proceeds from the million-dollar-a-plate fundraising dinners and $5 million-one-on-one meetings with the president\u2014organized by the pro-Trump MAGA Inc PAC\u2014are \u201call going to the library,\u201d a \u201cperson familiar with the dinners\u201d told<\/a> Wired<\/em>.<\/p>\n Then there are Meta (owner of Facebook) and Disney (owner of ABC News), which settled dubious lawsuits Trump had filed against them by pledging $15 million and $22 million, respectively, to Trump\u2019s presidential library foundation. \u00a0<\/p>\n There is ample reason to be wary about how the money could ultimately be used. For one, these are pledges to give money to a organization that is only partly established.<\/p>\n Disney, in its a settlement actually said it would<\/a> transfer settlement funds \u201cto a presidential foundation and museum\u201d before one existed. The Donald J. Trump Presidential Library was incorporated<\/a> in Florida a few weeks later, apparently as a way to accept the settlement. (Meta\u2019s January settlement, which Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said<\/a> \u201clooks like a bribe,\u201d is also reportedly bound for that foundation.)<\/p>\n Modern presidential libraries are run by nonprofit foundations. They often take the form of hagiographic museums, which include a repository of presidential papers administered by the National Archives. Trump\u2019s library foundation has not indicated if it has yet sought IRS recognition as a nonprofit, and it hasn\u2019t publicly announced a board of directors.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s record with non-profit organizations leads to additional reasons for concern. In 2019, a New York judge ordered<\/a> his nonprofit Trump Foundation to pay $2 million to an array of charities\u2014and then to dissolve entirely\u2014after finding Trump misused the foundation to further his political and business interests. In 2022, the Trump Organization and Trump\u2019s 2017 inaugural committee agreed to pay<\/a> $750,000 to settle a suit brought<\/a> by the DC attorney general charging that the committee illegally misused nonprofit funds to enrich the Trump family by \u201cgrossly overpaying\u201d Trump-owned companies \u201cfor use of event space at the Trump Hotel for certain inaugural events.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump, of course, was indicted<\/a> in 2023 for hiding highly classified government documents he had removed from the White House. Trump\u00a0reportedly insisted<\/a>\u00a0the federal records, which belonged to the National Archives, were \u201cmine.\u201d\u00a0Whether the 747 and the millions in donations and settlement money truly end up benefiting the future library\u2014which would be run in part by the very same National Archives\u2014remains to seen.<\/p>\n \u201cIf past is precedent, I don\u2019t know that we should take them at the word until we see how the money is spent,\u201d Noah Bookbinder, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told Mother Jones<\/em>.<\/p>\n Regardless, the library itself is hardly an ethical panacea. Gifts to presidential libraries \u201cfall between the cracks of campaign finance regulations and rules governing ethics in office,\u201d Jacob Levy, a political theory professor at McGill University, wrote<\/a> in a recent op-ed arguing that presidential fundraising for libraries while in office creates a \u201cloophole you could fly a plane through.\u201d<\/p>\n Levy noted that the foundations are bound only by loose rules applied to US nonprofits. Critics have<\/a> labeled<\/a> presidential libraries, generally, \u201ca scam.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cThe fact that, according to President Trump, the plane would not remain in service to the United States but would rather be donated to his presidential library after his term concludes further raises the possibility that this \u2018nice gesture\u2019 is intended as a bribe to Donald Trump,\u201d Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee charged in a letter<\/a> to Trump\u2019s attorney general and White House counsel. The plan, they argued, was \u201ccorrupt.\u201d<\/p>\n Though legally Trump cannot simply pocket funds and assets intended for the library, he faces few other limits. He could choose to \u201ctake a salary,\u201d Levy told Mother Jones<\/em>. \u201cHe can fly around on the plane.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s ability to raise donations that he could later personally benefit from creates a major ethical issue, Levy argued. \u201cThe fact that he can solicit those contributions\u201d from people currying his favor during his presidency, Levy said, \u201cmakes them corruption.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n