President Donald Trump ‘s readiness to accept a luxury jet as a gift from the ruling family of Qatar for conversion into a presidential aircraft has revived the conversations around emoluments and the notion of a president otherwise allegedly profiting off of the office.
“I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer,” he told reporters on Monday, after being asked if Qatar was getting anything in return for the plane. “I could be a stupid person and say, ‘no, we don’t want a free, very expensive airplane.’”
But there are constitutional prohibitions against the president receiving gifts from foreign entities or even domestic ones. It’s a conversation over emoluments, territory that Trump has been forced to navigate, and litigate, in the past.
What is an emolument?
Simply, an emolument is compensation for services, from employment or holding office, that can take the form of a salary, fee or profit.
What is the Emoluments Clause?
There are separate emoluments delineations in the U.S. Constitution. Both are aimed at preserving the independence of the president from influence from outside entities, including Congress, states and foreign governments.
Article I bars anyone holding government office from accepting any present, emolument, office or title from any “King, Prince, or foreign State,” without congressional consent.
Article II deals with domestic emoluments, noting that Congress can’t increase or decrease the president’s compensation during his term in office, and prohibits the president from receiving any emolument from the states.
Why is the Emoluments Clause coming up now?
Trump has reportedly been offered a Boeing 747-8 by Qatar in an arrangement that could be formalized as he travels to the Middle East this week. The Qatari government has said a final decision hasn’t been made. But Trump has defended the idea as a fiscally smart move for the country, even as critics argue it would amount to a president accepting an astonishingly valuable gift from a foreign government.
“If we can get a 747 as a contribution to our Defense Department to use during a couple of years while they’re building the other ones, I think that was a very nice gesture,” Trump said Monday at the White House.
The luxury 747 — currently parked at Palm Beach International Airport, close to Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago resort — would be donated to a future presidential library. Trump has said that he wouldn’t use it for personal travel after leaving office, suggesting that it would be decommissioned like the Boeing 707 that Ronald Reagan flew on in the 1980s, and which is currently on display at Reagan’s presidential library in Simi Valley, California.
There are other Trump-related deals with Qatar. Last month, the Trump family company struck a deal to build a luxury golf resort there, in a sign it has no plans to hold back from foreign dealmaking during a second Trump administration.
The project, which features Trump-branded beachside villas and an 18-hole golf course to be built by a Saudi Arabian company, marked the first foreign deal by the Trump Organization since Trump resumed office.
Has Trump dealt with debate over emoluments before?
In his first term, Trump faced lawsuits from Maryland and the District of Columbia, as well as high-end restaurants and hotels in New York and Washington, D.C., that accused him of illegally profiting off the presidency through his luxury Washington hotel.
In 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court brought an end to the cases, ruling them as moot since Trump was no longer president. The justices threw out Trump’s challenge to lower court rulings that had allowed lawsuits to go forward alleging that he violated the Constitution’s emoluments clause by accepting payments from foreign and domestic officials who stay at the Trump International Hotel and patronize other businesses owned by the former president and his family.
Has Congress weighed in on emoluments?
They’ve tried.
Last year, congressional Democrats introduced legislation that would prohibit U.S. Officials from accepting money, payments or gifts from foreign governments without congressional consent. It was their response to a yearslong probe into Trump’s overseas business dealings.
The proposals led by Rep. Jamie Raskin and Sen. Richard Blumenthal would enforce the Constitution’s ban on emoluments, which prohibits the president from accepting foreign gifts and money without Congress’ permission. Democrats have argued that Trump ignored the clause as president.
Both bills did not advance.
